Originally Posted by
skycrab
Generally, I would earn the 20K miles through flying, and pay the co-pay, so for me, it saves me (in 2015) the spending of 20K miles which cost me $1818 to earn and it saves me the co-pay of $550.
Looking at 2015, we'll probably fly (at least) one paid J flight where up until now, it's always been an upgrade from Y.
Based on what you're saying, then you should likely value higher than the market value of 250-300 -- because you get more utility out of the upgrade than people in general.
If you would spend the miles and the money on the upgrades anyway, then I think your plan of buying up to get to 150k PQM makes sense.