a little advice - use miles to upgrade?
we're flying PDX-DTW on Friday 5/25 (of Memorial weekend). Both Mrs. Psychtobe and myself are gold.
This is what ExpertFlyer says as far as availability:
P9 F8 Y1 B1 M0 H0 Q0 V0 L0 T0 K0 R3
The question is whether to use miles to upgrade us to F now. My understanding (I've never upgraded using miles) is that I can burn 30k miles and upgrade both of us now into F because there is adequate R availability?
The only reason we're considering doing this is because we have a 3 month infant and would appreciate the extra space during feeding (hers, not ours).
The other question is: it looks like coach might end up being oversold; of course, this is the only non-stop PDX-DTW and all other options would leave us on MSP connections (wouldn't be the end of the world - we'd get in late but breaking up the flight might be better). If we get bumped out of coach we'd earn $600 in vouchers which could be handy - as long as they can put us on the MSP connection the same day. If we're upgraded to F then we wouldn't be able to earn the bump.
The other thing to weigh is: on a 757 with the above availability on a Friday morning, does anyone want to hazard a guess as to our chances of getting an EUA or battlefield upgrade without burning the miles? Normally on a Friday morning as gold I'd say our chances aren't good - but 9 months out of the year PDX-DTW is a 320 rather than a 757. The 757 seems to increase our chances.
This is my first flight ever as gold, so I don't have a feel for upgrade likelihood.
Any thoughts appreciated.