bucketlist,

when you mention that many have failed to get the upgrades for the highly desired business seats on long-haul flights, do you mean, 1ks? Most people in this thread at least seem to say they almost always get the upgrade.

A few years ago, I missed 1k status out of stupidity... I had 87k miles and was flying round trip bkk-london. For some stupid reason, I was thinking air france was Star alliance, and didnt double check on this. This would have put me over the top. I arrived at the airport and proceeded to give my UA number and ask them to add it to my itinerary. Uhm.... when they said no dice, and I looked at the wall behind the counter and saw "Skyteam".... I said "Ouch". In retrospect, I should have cancelled the ticket and bought another one on a *A carrier, but it's water under the bridge.

Just adding a random personal story in for no reason.

Good point about having the change fees waived. That could give excellent flexibility in terms of planning trips, booking tickets when you're not sure if the plans will change, etc.