Thank you for your advice. I actually also got the United Club card recently (the one that waived first year fee), I suppose that gives me international lounge access for other star alliance carriers, right?

I booked Southwest a lot earlier this year, thinking that for sure they would be cheaper than United. Looking back, I really regret the decision. Looking at my bills, spent $7400 on Southwest in the past 12 months (all family travel).

Actually feel very very bad about it, because all those miles on Southwest would have given me higher status on United. I knew nothing about how United worked until recently. If only that $7400 was spent on United, I would be Gold already. Maybe United Gold is not worth much, but it feels really stupid to have so many miles Southwest because Southwest status seems worthless, and also takes much longer to achieve.

Southwest roundtrip HOU to BOS costs generally 400 or 500 now. Booking really early, there are some 90 dollar each way flights, but on weird times. United when booked early generally have 250 for the direct flights.

Now that I am premier silver, I get to fly economy+ on United, really making me not want to fly Southwest anymore.

Just hoping that I would be making smarter decisions about tickets. This board is really helpful.