Originally Posted by sdsearch

Not all credits are $200.

I have a flight on Alaska in coach in February. Currently there are 5 window seats in what Alaska calls Premium Class (which is simply extra legroom section of coach), and is asking for a bit over $100 to upgrade to one of those seats. I definitely want to do that seat upgrade for an almost 6 hour flight, so I'm monitoring it daily, and if looks like all of those window seats won't sell out before 1 January, on 1 January I'll change my Gold card ($100 credit) airline to Alaska and then buy that seat upgrade.

Then in June I have an even longer flight in coach in two directions on United. While I can theoretically get E+ extra legroom seats for free on United at T-24 checkin time, I don't trust that the best E+ seats for such a long flight will still be available then. United wants a bit over $125 in each direction to upgrade to one of those seats. So in early 2020, I'll change my HH Aspire card ($250 credit) airline to United and then buy those seat upgrades.

Now, I don't always have seats like this to upgrade "just waiting". So just because I have these two seats upgrades plannee for early 2020, I don't know yet what I'll be able to a year from then when I need to do credits again in 2021.