Over the weekend, after completing my Christmas shopping, my thoughts turned to planning our spring vacation, which this year looks like it's going to be Scotland. Since this will be the first year in many years I won’t be 1K, there is no using the GPUs to upgrade at purchase. So I looked at the other options.

Cheapest Economy fare on UA - $1500 per person r/t from IAD. I could do a co-pay and miles upgrade confirming now, but that runs $2765 (most of which doesn't qualify as PQD) + 40000 miles r/t. That's essentially $4165. A direct BF purchase on UA is $5600 per person r/t.

Then I looked at LH. Regular economy $1550 per person, Premium Economy $1765 per person. C is also $5600 per person.

Next up, AA/BA. Regular economy $1511 PP, World Traveler Plus (WTP) $1800 PP, and Club World is $5165 PP.

So it’s pretty clear which way I’m going to go – BA first, LH second, and UA third, and here’s why. First, it galls me that if I'm going to fork over $4165 to UA, that only $1333 is credited as PQD.

Second, this past year I’ve flown BA both in WTP and CW, and they are both quite delightful. Plus, if there are CW seats open the day of departure, BA will sell you an upgrade for a reasonable price ($1000 each way) without asking you to redeem miles. Last time I checked, $3800 PP round trip for a business seat IAD-EDI is a pretty good deal. Yes, I'm playing the lottery here (confirmed seat at UA over chance at BA), but since I was able to upgrade for $$ every time I tried at BA this year, it's a chance I'll take going forward.

UA needs to add a real premium economy to their international fleet, or they are going to fall further behind the competition.