Originally Posted by
tcdtcd
If you plan on flying UA often throughout the year, my opinion would be yes, take the connection. While Plat is only incrementally better than Gold, 1K is worth shooting for (320 PPs).
If you’re going to hit 1K soon regardless due to biz travel, then the connection for this specific trip is less clear cut.
OP is talking the difference between silver and plat, which is pretty significant, IME. Between Gold and plat, IMO, biggest benefit is PP and the +8 for E+. But (also IMO), silver to gold is a much bigger jump which is well worth it, especially for E+ at booking (we’re a family of 4, now based on SFO, so E+ at checkin is far from assured on most routes, so if we want E+, really the only way is to pay up).
OP talks about 3-4 PS trips a year, so even just gold for E+ on those is worth the extra connection on the one trip at least, IME.