Last year, when I was trying to get tickets for our British Isles cruise in August '06, I was being given a run-around. I finally got through to a man in the partner department at Delta who would tell me the facts. He told me flatly that I would never get the award seats because they could sell them at $2300-$2500 all day long. And that I could book them at that price almost up until time to fly. I waited a little while, then paid $2300 on Continental (at that point, something scary was going on at Delta). We liked the seats on Continental, and have booked them again for next May's trip to Edinburgh. Same price. It's worth it, for sure.