I am one regional trip short of making it to Gold. I can either do Taipei which is the cheapest way to get 5 sectors (but need to go through the hassle of getting a visa) or just do a trip to Singapore or Bangkok.

When I told my brother about it, he says that Silver and Gold are pretty much the same if not for the extra baggage allowance and since we normally travel on J, we rarely use up all the 30kgs anyway. So is it worth going through all the trouble to get to Gold?

I may have a work trip soon and normally the office gets me a economy ticket then I cover the upgrade to I-class. I was just wondering if I should do it now to get to Gold or just fly a direct flight on PR.

I really don't mind staying at HKIA for a few hours...plus CX provides a lot of flights between Manila and Hong Kong so connection time isn't much of a problem.