Originally Posted by emcampbe

It's getting harder and harder to snag E+ at T-24, saying that as a silver for the past few years. Especially as travel has come back post-pandemic, and especially on long-haul. Though my experience may be a bit colored as a) I'm SFO-based now, so a lot more higher premier status pax than where I was pre-pandemic (CVG, and even than ORD, which was where we typically routed through), and b, typically traveling with family of 4 total. On SFO-SIN last week, I was traveling along and could not snag a single, non-middle E+ seat. We get it every so often (and even got a CPU into the last 4 F seats on YYZ-SFO in the winter).

To try for a status match for a one-off like this probably isn't worth it, unless it's pretty low effort. Even as a silver through actual flying, the most valuable thing for us is probably the free checked bag, plus the occasional need for the extra weight (70 lbs. instead of 50), but even that we could get around the need for if we pack a bit better. And the access to the premier line during IRROPS. E+ is a nice bonus when its available at T-24 but one of those benefits that I just don't count on having, and is something that if I really wanted, I'd just pay for at booking.