Huh? BIS miles are EQM.

If you want to do CO/UA, you could get one of the CO CC that provide Elite Access, not much different than you would get being Premier/Silver. Fly the miles, and when you get to 50k, you'll be *A Gold for the rest of that year and all of the next.

It sounds like you only travel domestic, though, so it's hard to say if status is going to make much of a difference. Some 2P get upgraded frequently, some 1K do not - all depends on the flight you are on.