This (all YTD) 16k EQD/60k EQM/78 EQS segment runner Plat is finally going to make PlatPro this year. I did a segment run last Saturday (ABE-PHL-ATL-CLT-PHL-ABE for $180 all in!) and am forcing a CLT connection on a PHL-CLE trip in a couple of weeks to make sure I get to 90 EQS by end of year. Just need to book 2 trips in December for those last 4 segments ...
I have to say, my upgrade success rate has been much improved as my EQDs have been higher than typical this year (especially on < 500 mile segments), so that must project to same/better rates as a PP. Still to be seen is if I can actually make the grade on longer flights once I jump to the PP tier, as the vast majority of my Plat upgrades have been on flights < 1000 miles. Obv I never make PHL-ORD or DFW-LAX. I've never been short stickers when needed, so the improvement to UDU isn't really much of a benefit for me.
Going from SDS to SDFC will be nice when I can take advantage. The biggest benefit there, to me, is that I can now catch earlier flights to/from Canada which were disallowed at some point this year for Same Day Standby.
And the increase in redeemable miles is not a big deal for me since I have so much spend anyway that I earn more than I could ever use. I think I redeemed >200k for various flights this year (and into 2019) with the better half and for the adult stepkid.
Heck, I dropped 80k each for me & Mrs. pa3lsvt on a sAAver (outbound) and AAnytime (return) J for PHL-DEN next April. Yes, shockingly bad redemption rate but at $11.20 per person (plus my company's EQDs/my time earning the miles) it still beats paying for the flights!