Subject is kind of worded funny but here is my dilemma. I usually fly UA from out of a regional airport & came close to hitting Mileage plus silver (aa gold equivelant) last year. It would have been purely on segments, not even close with miles.

In March I am going to be flying to Europe & back. AA has the cheapest fare and I figured it might be a good time to do a challenge. At .5 point earning I pretty much will fly enough to earn 5000 points. If I pay the extra $120 and an extra $350 for the higher class I can get 1 point per mile and hit platinum. My question would be is it worth paying the extra? Is there that much of a benefit?

For the most part I only fly domestically about 5-6 times a year (but will probably fly to S America later this year) and as I said, usually only United & to be honest I would probably use a United challenge after I get status on AA. If I had platinum I might use AA more though. Is there any real benefit of platinum besides the extra mileage earning? Its my understanding that unlike United you have to buy your upgrades, they aren't just given out based on availability. Thanks!