I'm 1P this year and just requalifed at 2P. I'm not sure it's worth a push for 1P (sorry, "Gold") next year as it would require some MRs on my own dime. Yeah Gold would be a slight improvement in RDMs but I can get greater RDM bonuses elsewhere and I'm not comfortably that Gold won't get shafted next year by UA.
E+ when I travel with my wife & kid is a huge deal as now I only have to pay for 1 person. The new setup isn't worth it and I can already get a free bag with my OP credit card.
I think I have 3 possible options:
1. Credit *A flights to US. I know their 1st tier only gets 25% RDM bonus, too, and yeah it's USAir. But with the way they print miles (aka, "Official Consolidator of *A Premium Cabins"), I may be able to rack up RDMs faster with things like the Grand Slam, etc. I mostly use UA miles for international *A awards anyway. Then decide on a case-by-case basis if an E+ purchase is warranted on a certain flight.
2. Delta: One factor is my work flights will mostly switch to DL for the coming year which helps. I am Gold Medallion from a status match and could probably qualify at Silver at least, maybe to Gold if I push it. Gold gets me 100% RDMs which would take the sting out of the SkyPesos factor. Plus DL services my home field with mainline as opposd to Devil's Chariot with UA.
3. AA: Thanks to BA Visa and Citibank, we have and will be taking a lot of int'l award trips on AA and OneWorld. It would be nice to have status. May have some work trips on AA. Not all that familiar with their elite program though.
4. ???? maybe some other option... I don't want to do WN as I really want my miles to go for international trips and I haven't seen that WN is all that cheap for my needs anyway. Another *A carrier besides US??