Originally Posted by
kb9522
I'm of the opinion that it is never wise to provide undue revenue with these programs... doesn't matter if that's mileage runs, buy ups, multipliers, etc. It defeats the whole point when you spend money that you wouldn't otherwise spend... That is from the customer perspective... from the airline perspective, it's exactly what they want.
This.
That said, waived award redeposit can be a very valuable difference between GM/PM, *if* you plan to book/change lots of award tickets next year.
Also, the value of PM goes up the more you travel in the coming year. If you plan for your travel patterns to stay about the same or drop off, then it may not make sense to buy a status you will rarely use. On the other hand, if you plan to travel substantially more next year, all the little day-of-travel benefits will carry greater value.
It's all YMMV. Do what feels right to you, OP.