Originally Posted by
Gardyloo
Looks like a V fare would add +/- $200 to the tab (plus any change fee.)
If you're willing to shell out an additional $250 or so, and don't mind a bit of mileage running, it's not too hard to construct an itinerary in V that would let you challenge to Plat instead of Gold.
Of course the value of any elite challenge would depend on how much flying you'd likely do in the next year.
Is that just to change one segment or the whole thing? I do agree that usually it's best to put extra cash towards new flying, but that's not always the most convenient option. If it would only cost $50 to upgrade a segment to V (and yes, obviously the calculation is not as easy as $200/4 segments = $50/segment) then that may well be worth it for the OP.
Yeah, I've had agents who will charge the change fee and those who won't. As said above, just call back.