Alright, so new one for me. I've got 2 trips left this year, and will leave me a hare less than 200 PQP short of status for the year (segments are good).

I usually don't do this, but considering a paid upgrade.....I've got SJC-DEN in a couple of weeks that is offering a $210 paid upgrade, which would obviously take me over the top. A nicer seat and a meal is always nice, but not necessary, at least for me (if I was a big guy, it's a different calculus...I'm pretty small to average). But it would just get it done, though not sure how that works if I need to cancel (I assume the upgrade tab or just selecting a seat in F is not an upfare, but a buyup). Since I rarely upgrade outside of the [very] occasional CPU, I'm not sure if that's an ok offer. Would mostly be doing this to secure the status.

As I see it, other options include:

• Putting extra spending on my Select - I might make half of the needed PQP from normal spending on that card - while I could manufacture something else, I'm sure, anything above that would either be diverting from other cards that will be an opportunity cost vs. using other cards, or getting a bunch of gift cards to use later (or UA Travelbank).
• doing a MR...either paid (though trying to somewhat limit spending right now), or a short UA-operated award flight....Im sure I could get a SFO-LAX/LAS/SAN, though prefer not to use an extra day away from fam for this
• Applying for a Quest card with the 500 PQP bonus - but I feel like that is both a gamble in that I could make the spend, but not sure how those PQP would apply if it its close to the end of the year when I hit the threshold
• Upgrading my other SFO-SAN trip, which is $90/direction, though that is with family, so that could get a bit messy (though I suppose upgrade my ticket, give wife the seat could be a good option

Is there any reasonable options I'm missing?