Since I'm not a Gold (although next year there's a chance I might do it), the 50% birthday upgrade is not in my near future. Most of my flights are on the JFK-BKK nonstops, and the miles needed for one-way upgrades to business are 40K-50K from economy or 30K from PE. I enjoyed my one op-up to business on that route, but I'm not at all sure that it was 30K miles better than my typical PE experience. I was probably wrong in saying that one gets more bang for the miles at hotels, but since hotels like the Dusit or the Plaza Athenee are far above the hotels where I typically stay, I thought they would make a nice vacation within a vacation.