Is it worth it to stretch for Gold (over Silver)? [2018 Consolidated]
 

Hey folks,

I'm United Silver right now, and am thinking about trying to hit Gold. Quick question though - is it worth it in terms of upgrades to first class?

I know there are some quick benefits of Gold over Silver, like free checked bags, upgrades to Economy Plus when you book, etc. I have the MileagePlus Club card, and get some benefits like the club, but rarely check bags and if I'm flying Economy, usually can get the upgrade to Economy Plus anyway.

However, my question is do people who have Gold often get a bump to first class, or is it usually just more Economy Plus? For what it's worth, I generally fly out of SFO, and often to CVG, NYC, MSP, and DFW.

Thanks!

IMO, Gold is worth it for the ability to secure E+ at booking. I wouldn't expect any free upgrades as a Gold. So if you are looking at Gold as a tool for free upgrades you'll be disappointed.

SFO-EWR isn't eligible for complimentary upgrades for anybody. SFO-MSP, you may have a shot at Gold; much of it depends upon when you travel. If you're traveling at business commuter times (Monday - Thursday / Monday - Friday), your chances are virtually nil.

Silver -> Gold is a significant upgrade for a lot of reasons, but upgrades to first -- especially for someone based in SFO -- isn't one of them.

A simple way to tell -- when you fly, see how often you finish at #1 or #2 on the waitlist. If that's common, then moving up one tier will probably be useful for you in terms of upgrade percentage. If you're normally #1 7, on the other hand, moving up a level is likely to move you to #1 2 on the list, still seated in coach. :)

I say it's worth it to get E+ at booking, as others have said. And when you travel overseas, you get *G, which is a big help for security/check-in at a lot of places.

Don't do it though for upgrades, especially if you're based in the Bay Area. You won't get any besides some very light routes at odd times or lightly traveled routes.

This.

For me, E+ at booking is a big one, and no fee for SDC is a good one. (The big one for Plat is Group1, and for 1K it's GPUs)

Upgrades for Gold depends on the origin-destination and time of the flight. As a 1K, I end many times as number 1 on the waitlisted CPU list.

But the other benefits of Gold are good so if you are close to reaching it and you know that next year you will do as much travel it might be worth it.

All of this. You have a shot on SFO-MSP if they're flying an E75 or a 739 and you're not taking peak hours (that's a guaranteed CPU for me as a 1K) but the others are hopeless upgrades.

You'll also get *A Gold benefits which means that you get an additional layer of protection when travel plans go sideways. For instance, suppose you've got a flight to Frankfurt on LH and the flight gets cancelled due to bad weather. As a *A Gold member you're entitled to hotel accommodation, meal vouchers, etc., even though the cancellation was technically outside the airline's control. Also, IME UA treats its VIPs (i.e. those flying in J/F and UA Gold and above) better than everyone else. Case in point, I had a connecting flight ORD -> YYZ which was cancelled due to MX. In a matter of minutes I got rebooked on an AC flight for the following day (in J!), along with hotel stay and around $80 USD in meal vouchers. I doubt I would be treated half as well as a UA Silver.

Safe Travels,

James

So airport lounge access when flying domestically might be a limited benefit for you based on where you're flying out of. The major airports in the US that allow UA domestic passengers to use lounge are IAD, LGA, LAX, DTW, BOS. The lounges at EWR and ORD can be accessed with some difficulty (i.e. terminal change and re-clearing security) That being said, we'll see if SQ re-opens a *Gold lounge at SFO now that they're reintroducing service there (in which case you may have some luck getting access to the lounge when flying out of SFO). A list of such lounges can be found here.

-James

I think this is a poor example; as en EU carrier, LH would have to provide hotel and meal vouchers to all pax for this cancellation (EC 261), right?

SQ isn't reintroducing service at SFO; they never left. They're expanding service there.

They gave up the SQ lounge to make room for Polaris. It's not coming back. (And even when it was there, they were notorious for turning away domestic *G passengers).