By a stroke of luck and a cheap mileage run, I secured platinum at the end of last year for the first (and last) time ever.

For those of you who have years of experience with RUCs, how do you decide when to pull the trigger?

I am MSP based, but travel solely for leisure and mostly outside of peak business times, so my upgrade percentage, especially since becoming platinum is pretty good, and I struggle with the balance of not wanting to waste certificates when I would clear at the window anyway.

I usually try and keep an eye on how full C+ is as the 5 day window nears as a barometer of how many Platinums and above there are, which so far has served me pretty well.

Are there any other indicators you look at before deciding to pull the trigger vs waiting to see what happens at the 5 and 3 day windows?