This is my first year as Plat and for the most part I've only gotten one or two small CPU upgrades that I would not have gotten as gold. The one big benefit was that we are going to Hawaii with my family and MIL/FIL so I was able to use award miles and also get all 6 seats in E+ for free at booking. Gold only gives you two, so there was a legitimate savings of about $900 right there (4 E+ seats @ $120 both ways). If you travel fairly often with family (more than 2) those E+ seats at booking can help offset some of that cost you are looking at spending.