How old are the travelers and where to do you want to go? It's nice to go in the front of the bus, but for a short flight to Europe from PHL or New York you could easily do coach and not sweat it. Especially if being on the same flight is that important. We've done coach for points and then upgraded to Economy Plus for cash and it was totally fine. I'm not saying it was nice like Biz/1st, but it was satisfactory. Doesn't seem like you're that flush with points anyway....