I checked out the tickets on .bomb and discovered that when I select the upgrade option for miles - y/b, all the tickets seem to be at least 3 times of economy. I had to go ahead and book my flight from DEN to IAD for this Sunday, so I went ahead and booked an e+ ticket. Most of travel arrangements are made a week prior, but I even went out over two weeks and found out that the upgrade option for mile - y/b is almost 4 times as much. They always appear to be about the same price for First class by themselves. Is this usually the case?

Figured I would this piece:

My company travel policy only allows us to purchase tickets under $1K. If, even after reaching the 100K club level, with the upgrades still requiring a Y/B ticket, this program would prove to be not worth very much to me in my day-to-day travels. I fly United at least once every week, but if this is to be the case as for the only way to get the free upgrades on a regular basis, then I might as well switch airlines for my membership program. So any help would be greatly appreciated.