I've taken my time deciding before electing to go with Buy Up to Preferred. While it might not float everybody's boat, US does indeed offer an option for those who travel enough to grapple with the value/necessity of a buy up.

My wife came up some 3800 miles short of Gold, so it made sense to ratchet her up the ladder. Total cost was equal to a PHL-PBI flight ( which would have garnered her only 1902 miles -- though the warm sun would have felt good ). My own decision was trickier as I make Gold by a few thousand miles & had to debate the worthiness of buying up. We're a little indeterminate about what we're doing in 2010, but we do have at least 3 TA trips penciled in along with our other travels. I was in more of an exploring mode than buying mood. I receive a nice quote for Plat & CP & I opt to roll the dice with CP & see if I can leverage that into some UGs when we fly some several trips to PHX to meet up with our Air Force son. Like I say, it's a subjective decision, but at least US has a product and an offer sitting out there for each of us to decide. Obviously it makes more sense if you think you're gonna fly enough to get a chance to grab some of the perks.

Interestingly, the on-line transaction process is seamless and smooth. The prices quoted in the buy-up charts are actually approximations and the on-line quote is actually discounted a modest bit ( although remember the Feds get their excise tax cut as well ). Although your confirmation e-mail says it will require 3 days to confirm your buy-in, your new status shows up immediately if you log-in and check your DM account. So in this regrd, it looks as if IT at US has been busy behind the scenes smoothing out some transitions.

Barry