Originally Posted by snaxmuppet

Thanks for the cross-check

It is addictive isn't it. I have been grabbed by it. If I were to be sensible then I wouldn't do it at all. I don't fly for business and on the few occasions a year when I do fly for personal reasons (holidays, visit family etc) I always fly J whenever I can anyway so I will nearly always have access to lounges, priority check-in/boarding etc without having status so the Silver/Gold card won't actually give me much benefit. Yet I still want the challenge of putting something like this together and then the massive challenge of actually flying it. My wife thinks I am potty and, although she hasn't said so, I am sure that she is a bit cross with me that I am considering spending so much on such a thing when that could pay for a cruise for us both or some similar joint holiday.

As for when to do it... yes, if you are starting out from a low TP standing in the first place and your TP year end is not far off then I would wait until the next TP year. Then the spend becomes better value as you will get Gold for 2 full years then Silver for the third year. Personally I won't get much benefit out of being Gold so I look on it as getting an extra year of Silver for free...!