From some recent posts, I've seen discussions of how some of the United "studs" on this board (PremEx, Catman, etc) claim to almost always sit in the front of the bus. I'm working on the math:

I know that 1Ks and PremExs have good luck when trying to upgrade (I've had very good luck as a PE), but do you end up buying a lot of upgrade booklets with cash? I get 2000 miles of upgrades for every 10000 miles flown, when they send them. I suppose I could also get another couple of RT upgrades with those 10000 miles flown (w/100% PE bonus).

What happens in the case where you are not flying transcon or intl? When I was using UA for some short midwest flights, I would see people busting their hump to get upgraded for a 35 minute flight every week and wonder why they are wasting precious upgrades for a drink and a bag of nuts.

I guess I'm trying to figure out how, unlike other programs that guarantee space up front for elites at no additional cost, UA elites can get upgraded continuously without burning up all their miles or a lot of cash. I currently sit up front about 20% of the time (by using my upgrade certs).

Thanks for any tips, fellow FTers - you've been really helpful.