Took the plunge for $299, as well. Pushed me above 20k for the year... between the extra leg room, no carry-on stress, and the 8,400 redeemable miles I'd say money well spent, even if I only manage to use it a couple times. Considered getting the credit card and attempting the 20k 'challenge' for Platinum before buying the pass but I wasn't convinced it was worth the extra spend to reach it vs keeping the spend on my Venture X which is minimum 2% return.