Ok, I am just going to go with this if I have a choice in use years, because I just can't get it

[SL6827]

Ok, I am just so over trying to figure out use year. My head hurts and I just can't seem to get it. So I am just going to take what I can get. I don't think I will get it figured out good until I am a owner. But I am just going to put this out here with a yes or no and I'll use it for future reference if need be.

Very end of January trips and very beginning and very end of February trips- good use years might be October and December

Early to mid-October and early to mid-December trips- good use years might be August and September

I am just basing them on the fact that they are use year months that precede the travel date

 

[supersnoop]

If you won’t travel in September, an October use year will be best.

 

[SL6827]

September is pretty much a no go. Thanks

 

[Ben E N]

August should still be ok. As long as you plan to take most of your trips more than 4 months before your UY, you're good. August would mean finish the majority of your trips by 3-31.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

A good UY gives some free protection against last minute cancellations - that is all.

It will allow you to bank points should you have to cancel or to at least give you as much time as possible to rebook or rent out the points. So it's looking for a UY that keeps your expected travel times within the banking window (first 8 months of the UY). So a good UY will actually cover 8 months of the year. If you plan to travel in Oct, Dec, Jan or Feb then an August UY (banking deadline March 31), Sept UY (banking deadline April 30) or October UY (banking deadline May 31st) keeps those travel times within the banking deadline.

If those are your planned months (Oct-Feb) then I'd recommend in this order:
October
September
August

All will work but the October would give the most time but I'd personally be fine with any of those 3 for the listed months of travel.

 

[SL6827]

A good UY gives some free protection against last minute cancellations - that is all.

It will allow you to bank points should you have to cancel or to at least give you as much time as possible to rebook or rent out the points. So it's looking for a UY that keeps your expected travel times within the banking window (first 8 months of the UY). So a good UY will actually cover 8 months of the year. If you plan to travel in Oct, Dec, Jan or Feb then an August UY (banking deadline March 31), Sept UY (banking deadline April 30) or October UY (banking deadline May 31st) keeps those travel times within the banking deadline.

If those are your planned months (Oct-Feb) then I'd recommend in this order:
October
September
August

All will work but the October would give the most time but I'd personally be fine with any of those 3 for the listed months of travel.

Thank you, these months will be my choice if possible.

 

[bwvBound]

Ditto above ... based on your stated preferences, I'd hunt for an OCT UY as "1st choice" with the earlier months as stated by @KAT4DISNEY.

 

[SL6827]

Ditto above ... based on your stated preferences, I'd hunt for an OCT UY as "1st choice" with the earlier months as stated by @KAT4DISNEY.

Got my second choice, September.

 

[bumbershoot]

A good UY gives some free protection against last minute cancellations - that is all.

exactly.

OP, I think I had mentioned to you about our first trip. Used banked, current, and some borrowed points. February use year, December trip.

And we live near Seattle, so flights are an issue.

If we had had a solid reason to cancel that trip, it would have been illness or injury; something worth hospitalization.

Something like that would have likely kept us from being able to rebook that trip in the short time we had before all those points expired. Because we would have only had until January 31st to finish travel, and it was a 2 week trip.

Even finding the availability would have been difficult. So it would have been bad if we’d had to cancel.

But we didn’t. So it didn’t matter. Cancelling is the only time this matters, and if you have many time periods when you might travel then it’s impossible to choose the perfect one.