Weigh the circumstances. Maybe that 4-hour flight is worth $199 to buy up FC. Maybe that 2-hour flight is not. Take your chances on the latter, not the former.
i would happily pay <$200 for a transcon upgrade on certain days when i want to get a lot of work done, or sleep. those days are not often, and typically i just book them on miles in confirmed saver F. unfortunately, as an elite, i do not see those low $ offers and my guess is that now that you are an elite again you will not see them either. they will go to the kettles when someone's reservation is out of sync during CPU and R sits open at 4 or higher inside T24.