Originally Posted by
ATOBTTR
This may put me in the minority opinion on here, but given the mileage redemption rates, which could be as much as what an outright premium cabin redemption could go far, and frequent lack of availability (and the upgrades wouldn't even go to the gate if they didn't clear in advance) this may as well be a non-factor. I tried to get mileage-upgrade awards a few times and never succeeded with it. While the rate may not be the best ($0.01/mile or so), the ability to now use miles to buy-up to FC is an okay tradeoff to me as I at least know there's "space" I can upgrade to.
I'm pretty much with
ATOBTTR on this ... I've used a few of these in the past, but it always required calling in with a pair of questions: (1) is UG space available on the desired flight(s)? (2) if so, how much to upfare to K? ... lately, once MQD is no longer an issue (
i.e., I hit the AmEx waiver or the PM spend threshold), I occasionally use PWM to cover a portion of the FCM upfare, which for my typical TCONs has ranged from ~$160 (in the early days of FCM) to ~$250 today