That doesn't sound quite right. I thought all of the major airlines had waived change fees for the month?
Even if true, I'd do it to. Spend $100 to keep 10K miles and travel first class on return all the way across the continent. How much would you save on luggage fees in first?
I used to think that airline miles had depreciated too much to even bother with as airlines would try to route me thru Miami on the way to Coz when I tried to use the lowest amount of miles or other such flight plans that I did not find appealing. Maybe my personal experiences aren't enough to use for such opinions or maybe I didn't shop right before, but I've found them to be more usable lately. When considering spending money or miles, I tend to value the miles around $10 per 1,000. That's still a major devaluation from 30 yeas ago when I valued them at $20/K, and those dollars were worth a lot more then, but at least they seem more usable than a couple of years ago.