Originally Posted by
mrothly
Obviously there are significant tradeoffs between total travel time and also potentially being on crappy metal where a J/F upgrade doesn't mean much, hence I'm not asking what alternates are possible, but rather if anyone has ones where they personally find the cost-benefit actually nets out greater for them.
In short, no I don't find it worth it to go out of the way. While my TCON travel isn't as often as it used to be, I get by with RUCs, mileage upgrades (these were a much better deal at 12.5k, but at 20k may still occasionally be worth it), paid J ($1200/rt can occasionally be found on DL, sometimes on B6, and often on AA), and buying the seat next to me (especially cost effective at off peak times when Y seats go for as little as $120/ow... I rarely need a lie flat seat on a 5 hour flight).
There's also B6 to look at in Y, where regular Y seats are similar to DL C+ (sans the wrap, but with functional free wifi), and EMS seats give you as much pitch as DL domestic F.