I am a UA 1K although decided to get Gold on US when they released the most recent promo. I fly to Mexico quite a bit and the flights are on US metal so I wanted to increase chances of getting an upgrade and also earn the bonus miles. I was given Silver status and have been upgraded automatically on 2 US flights already (out of 3). I am not sure if this is uncommon...but I'll take it! I may never go back to UA.