Originally Posted by
sc flier
In terms of upgrades, there's supposed to be no difference between Corporate, Gold, or Preferred Plus. The benefit that Gold gets is the extra point per dollar spent.
However, an untrained check-in agent may not be as aware of the Corporate or Preferred Plus status, and that would be my fear. Of course, I have no personal experience in this possibility, so my concern might be without merit.
In the US, I never got any upgrades as a Preferred Plus / Corporate Preferred / Preferred Business (I've been all 3 - same thing). Even the "away from the elevator" didn't always hold.
However, outside the US, I've gotten minor upgrades with this "status".
Conditions may have been different, but with a Gold I got a decent upgrade in my 1 shot in India and free breakfast in Tokyo.
Awaiting my first stay as Platinum, so no basis for comparison there.