Some of you might hate me for this, but my experience as a Gold on domestic flights to/from PHL hasn't been terrible. I'm batting probably 30%, which sounds like a better average than some other FT'ers on elite heavy routes. Thanks to EF, if I see my flight is pretty heavy in J a few days before the flight, then I lose any hope for the T minus 24 upgrade. If it's light, then I'll make sure there are enough E-certs in my account if I want the upgrade. Otherwise, if I see my flight is heavy in Y, then I will pay the fee to bump up to a guaranteed MCE seat and be totally content - especially in a month or two when MCE gets some additional perks. My trips are usually around 3 hours so I'm not even thinking about the transcons. I know those are a battlefield for even the ExP's. If I have the flexibility, I would probably just pay ahead for an MCE seat in those cases too.