Thanks to both of you for your responses. You did confirm my expectations about SAL.

As for the upgrades, I did the search that JohnnyColombia recommended and did find what I had feared - that the process is opaque and you cannot count on the upgrades no matter what elite level you have. Actually, COPA is just as opaque, though I have been consistently upgraded.

At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, though I'm leaning toward switching to AV.