Originally Posted by
tarheelnj
Very well written post with a reasonable conclusion. I agree with your view on domestic travel and improving your chances of upgrading vs a 1K's. The only thing is, if you (and most other GS's) are purchasing international business class tickets, why not allow 1K's access to PN space on those flights? UA won't overload PN at the expense of revenue tickets, but I'd like to improve my changes of using a GPU, especially when playing the W lottery. It shouldn't affect you, as you'll still have access to a revenue ticket.
Not every GS profile is alike. I have flexibility with my business travel and can steer my travel between carriers if the price is the same. I tend to steer it toward United to maintain GS. I also travel a lot on personal trips where I use the PN space to upgrade. PN space is particularly valuable to me for my personal travel.
I've found advance confirmable PN space to be harder and harder to come by which means I've been creating space for a companion by buying a business class fare. In those cases I don't depend on PN space, but of course I'd rather there be PN space for me when I want it.