I have to say that my upgrades as a Gold have been more frequent this year than last, however, my 12 month rolling EQD is around $6000 whereas last year I re-started work travel and had <$3000 EQD on my rolling counter. So I can't be sure if my upgrades are due to my EQD improvement or a reduction in the ranks of overall elites competing for the seats. I've even gotten a few upgrades on the A319 with just 8 seats up front on ex-CLT and ex-PHL routes.