I am looking at this year and about 10K short of gold for next. I am really wondering if Gold is much better then silver for flying out of SEA.

I generally fly SEA-east coast. As a gold I rarely get the free upgrade SEA-MSP/DTW, so as a silver probably not much different. The other trips I do are on Alaska, SEA-PHX or LAX, again, little chance to use the NWA upgrade certificates on those.

The other flying I do is to Asia. Again, I must purchase a Y fare to have any hope of getting us upgraded. Even the full Y fares, there has been pretty spotty for this gold to find upgrade seats all the way to say BKK.

As far as miles go, I have plenty, and often use them to upgrade, and with some of the new credit card promotions, the extra miles a gold vs silver earns is little. As well with such a terrible first class product, I often find myself flying CO and using the miles to upgrade with them instead.


What do other people see as the advantage of say Gold or Platinum over Silver?