jsloan

:-) I didn’t notice the name. If E+ access for your family is worth the $400, then go for it. That’s an entirely reasonable point of view. ^ But that’s going to be a painful trip...

The key is looking to see where you are on the upgrade list when you’re not upgraded. If you’re normally fifteenth on the list, going to Platinum might make you tenth, and still in economy. If you’re normally first, going to Platinum might get you the upgrade.

I did find that my upgrade rate was better at Platinum than at Gold, but not much better.

sfo789

I only spent a couple months as a Plat, but it came after a year of being Gold. I found my UG rate improved immensely on offpeak-timed stuff: ex., while IAD-SFO is empty in F on a Sunday morning, it is almost impossible as a Gold and very manageable as Plat.

Obviously, if you fly SFO-IAD on a Thursday night, you will jump from 40th to 30th on the list but that's a meaningless improvement.

So the real question is: how many relatively elite-light/quiet-in-F routes do you fly? If more than a few, I'd say the enhanced CPU odds are quite meaningful.

JCrew7384

I am a long-time United Platinum, but this year I just don't have the miles. I am stretching for Gold frankly. But the real reason I want it is for the E+ seats at booking instead of check-in. That is huge for me and my family. But I just noticed that the companion thing for Gold is 1 (whereas it was 8 for Platinum, which is a ridiculous number). If I travel with my wife and 2 year old daughter, does that mean I can't select E+ seats for the 3 of us? I will have to purchase one additional???

findark

That's correct. IMO the extra companions is the only tangible benefit of Plat left. It's very nice if you have the extra companions, and worthless otherwise.

Boraxo

You can select E+ at time of booking but you pay the fee for any beyond 2. Honestly not so much $$ unless you take a lot of trips ... but starts to add up as the family grows larger. Pretty easy to calculate how much this is worth based on your expected travel. The harder items to value are Group 1 boarding & the fee waivers.

It's a very valuable benefit but I would not go that far. The RPUs definitely have some value (I'd peg @$100-200 depending on the flight) and so do the bonus miles.

Kacee

And Group 1. Don't forget Group 1 boarding.

If you're goal oriented, the thing about Plat is, only 25,000 more for 1K.

jsloan

Not necessarily. It's 25K PQMs + some number of PQDs. People who make Platinum based upon the CC spending waiver may face a gigantic PQD roadblock.

UAL250

Me, pretty much every year.

Madone59

Yes you are correct - that is crazy right! Also, 8 i never noticed that. 8 is a really strange and large number!

ZBigFam

Not for me! That's the exact number in my fam

jsloan

It's not really "strange." 8 companions = 9 people on the PNR. 9 is the largest number of people that can be accommodated on a single PNR through normal sales channels. If you are coordinating travel for more than 9 people, you have to use multiple PNRs or contact Group Sales.

So, it's not really "8 companions" as much as it is "everybody, excluding group sales."

jj12345

Hi All,

I just wanted to get some advice from the experts here. Hope this is the right place to post this - I'm a Platinum member from the previous year and I haven't flown as much in the past year.

I'm currently at 46,638PQM and have a trip coming up that will get me 1846PQM. I'm not sure if I should try and do a mileage run to try and hit Platinum or just do an additional flight to reach GOLD. In my upcoming trip that will get me 1846PQM, I have a mileage purchase offer of an additional $150USD + 500USD to get 6000PQM? Is that worth it?

To give you a background on my travel, I am a YYC based mileage plus member and can generally fly out of any CAN or USA city if a mileage run is required. I make a yearly trip to DEL or BOM in J and some random travel in-between that.

Thanks in advance all!

jsloan

There’s a thread on the board called “Is it worth it to stretch for Platinum” that might be of interest. In general, my opinion is that there are three tiers worth striving for in the current UA system — Gold, 1K, and GS. I would not consider a mileage run to try to get to Platinum — the extra benefits just aren’t there, in my opinion, especially when you’re a full 25K miles away. In your situation, I would try to schedule the one extra flight necessary to reach Gold, which, assuming you have the time to fly it, should be doable for less than the $650 it’d cost to buy the status.

WineCountryUA

As you suggested, have merged the OP's thread in that existing thread.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

Also, there is Is it worth it to stretch for Gold (over Silver)? [2017 Consolidated]

Note both threads have wikis that cover the benefits of the higher status levels

fumje

Just a note that you can try to use SDC to stretch for the extra 1500mi., but if you have only one more trip (and if it's ORD-SFO, as I guess) that is unlikely to be successful. You can also make a booking for a shorter flight to see if you get a mileage purchase offer that is closer to 2000 and therefore cheaper. Then cancel the booking within 24 hours.