Are The Upgrades Offered On E-bay Worth It...risk?...anybody With Experiences To Share.?..i Notice A Lufthansa Upgrade Certificate For $599....and Many Other Usair,,,,aa,,,ua...offerings...

I guess the most appropriate question is: Is it worth it to me?

I personally think that spending $599 for an upgrade on a trans-Atlantic flight is a bit much, but then again I'm a 1K with United and upgrades are much easier for me to come by than they would be for most people.

As far as the risk involved, you run three risks:

1) The seller is not legit and scams you out of $599. This could happen with any online auction purchase and is not limited to just upgrade certificates.

2) Another risk is that you purchase an upgrade certificate and the airline discovers that your upgrade certificate has been purchased and confiscates the certificate, closes your MP account, bans you from riding United and closes the account of the person that sold you the certificate (since it does have their name on the face). A way to mitigate this risk is to ensure that if you do purchase a certificate, make sure that the serial numbers and ticket numbers are blacked/whited out on the photo online.

3) The final risk is the one you run if you don't purchase the certificate: You risk sitting in Lufthansa Y for eight hours!