Originally Posted by
magnicus
I'll have to crunch some numbers on the +5,000 cost vs. benefit for platinum or Spire. Hard to guess at either's benefit value next year, though. I think the +$11.00 for +5,000 points I saw at a couple places are a no brainer though if I can't get the advance rate anyway.
One of the big values in Plat or Spire is the 50%/100% points bonus. How much that's worth depends on how much you'll spend on revenue stays after you earn the status. If you'll be largely burning the points and certs you've earned on award nights, it's not worth as much.
As for the bonus points, yeah, if you can get 5k for only $11 extra it's a bargain. You're buying them at 0.22cpp and you can redeem them for about 3x that. Even if you discount their value assuming a devaluation event in the near future, there's enough margin there to keep you well above break-even on the transaction.