I thought I would chime in as this is my first year as a Silver and I had to a last minute mileage run last December to qualify. Would I do it all over again?? You bet. My travel patterns are close to yours, I actually do Chicago-Seattle 4 or 5 times a year as my family is in SEA. I wasn't sure I would be upgraded much in or out of SEA because of NW's presence. Well for the most part I am quite pleased. I am 75% overall and the times that I am not upgraded, I am in either the bulkhead or exit row which is just as comfortable as FC. And the 50% bonus mileage is quite nice as well. So I would say it is definately worth the effort.

Jeremy