Originally Posted by camachinist
Doing exactly this in four days (paying the fee).
Downside can be if you are waitlisted for upgrades together (you sponsoring) or if she is on a seperate PNR sponsoring herself, after your threshold passes....IIRC, it's possible you might clear and she might not. You can always switch
This would be an issue if she were GM too, so I imagine you've dealt with it before.
We're also primarily leisure travelers and I'll make 1P lite this year, up from GM.
I was 2P for 2005 and will be 1P for 2006. Believe it or not I have never gotten an upgrade from UA - never.
We fly to California a few times per year and never had the opportunity to get both of us into F. We also fly to Europe a couple of times a year and have never been op-uped (interestingly, we have been op-uped on BA which is supposed to be next to impossible).
The improved irreg ops chances would be nice, because I would not go (again, our travel is for pleasure) alone. And blocking a middle seat would be nice. And maybe with her status we'll finally get into F on a CA trip.
While I fly alone to ski, Mrs GRE seldom goes out on her own (so she does not need status to use Group 1 boarding or priority check-in).
Regarding gifting status, I'll end up with only about 55k miles.