Originally Posted by
fone
How much more of UA do you envision yourself flying?
Flying UA and crediting to UA also increases your lifetime miles. If you are getting anywhere near 1 million miles, then you can get lifetime UA gold (subject to any further devaluations). 250k gets you 1/4 way there.
Economy plus might not seem that great, but there is usually more empty seats around in economy plus than in regular economy. (My experiences have mostly been pre-merger). Economy can be packed full, while economy plus can only be half full. Also, I've had 1 operational upgrade to business on UA silver, though I believe now it is very difficult to get upgrade (by miles or GPU), let alone the op ups. Recent experience in Economy plus was always full due to other factors (always had one flight cancelled).
for 250k miles, how many sectors a year, assuming you might not qualify on miles but on sector?
I have been leveraging partnership flight for airlines to Alaska that provide more miles and based in the NW the AS are valuable, but new schedule precludes Hainan (HU) and Delta ( DL ) termination with AS makes UA the primary choice and/or start again with DL. I made silver so the upgrade to plus is nice... So trending for the most part to UA default due to schedule of flights to and from PVG to LA/SFO too right not to take, probably every week going back or forth. Will see how the body manages that