I am the sorry owner of a large number of FFM on united... since they have been grossly deflated by recent changes by United making it hard to get confirmed upgrades or flat-out award tickets in business class in advance. And they keep piling up because of my company credit cards.

I could potentially reach 1K status this year, but would have to go a little out of my way on some flights to get there. I'm fairly close. Question is, how much do I want to do this?

I know 1Ks get systemwide upgrades. The website doesnt say how many. Given the bad faith united has already shown in watering down the value of our miles, should I randomly trust that the promise of juicy SWUs will pan out in 2011? (I plan a trip at end of year and would get 1k at end of 2010).

Also, I know 1Ks have priority when requesting upgrades using miles. Could this potentially be my savior? I am sitting on top of so many miles... really I can upgrade all my flights contiunuously and still have miles for more as I keep racking up more credit card miles. Could becoming 1K restore the value of my miles by giving me a good chance on international upgrades to business?

Would becoming 1K get me say, a 95% change of clearing upgrades? On non-busy days of the week? If I look at class availability in advance and try to pick flights that seem to have availability (i.e., Z9, etc....)