08-12-2011, 07:24 AM
They're counting on most people not to be as clever as macuu222. They have us all trained to expect to pay more at the last minute, although some airlines release low-miles free tickets at the last minute to get the seats filled and some miles off their books, where they show up as a liability. Delta is famous for this. In fact, they have been accused of ONLY offering low-miles freebies at the last minute, especially on their Hawaii and international flights.