Originally Posted by
mooper
For you, perhaps. I use my companion certs every year to save $400+ I'd be paying for flights otherwise. Though the Reserve tiebreaker isn't too useful when you are far down the list, it can be extremely useful when you are high on the list. As a DM, I'm almost never on a list - I clear before my flights. But my family members have, on several occasions, won the tie-breaker specifically because they hold a Reserve card.
Then you are more fortunate than me, it is not just an "A" fare, it's a "special" A fare that when I try to use mine, it saved maybe $150 versus two regular A fares, so for wife to lose the MQM's it wasn't worth it. I have let 3 of these expire because I couldn't use them (and tried).
As far as the upgrade list, I found the card to be totally useless when I was in the back as a DM on a B fare LGA-MSP the one time I thought it should have made the difference. still was #2 on the ug list.
The only value I see is the MQM's. I see myself cancelling the card after this year if I maintain DM again.
Now if it worked:
DM B Reserve
DM M Reserve
DM Q Reserve
...
DM B
DM M
DM Q
etdcc then it would matter, the fact that you only go ahead off others on the same fare class makes it useless.