Upgrading. Best option?

Looking to fly SFO in June. Just trying to work out the best option on how to get my UC flights:

Currently
Z fare 2,917, get 16,000 miles and 10 TP

S fare 1,339 + 40,000 miles upgrade, altho would get 16,000 miles plus use my Black AMEX so another 1,339 * 4, so in essence would cost me 18,644 for the upgrade and don't forget 6 TP

Another option would be a Economy ticket, not sure what class would have to buy for then doing double upgrade at 60,000 miles, would it be a L at 663 or B for 763???

Just trying to work out the best option. Need 6TP to renew silver, may be making couple of Trips in as well in October, but not confirmed yet

Guess the other option is waiting to see if there is an UC sale at end for June at some point....

Any advice from those in the know

[Neil]

I tend to buy economy fares and upgrade. It is an L fare code that you need to do this. I guess it depends though on what works best for you. Do you want to fly UC the cheapest possible way? Are you trying to collect miles for a future trip? Everyone has their own circumstances so it is difficult to just say option x is the best.

As Neil says it really depends on how many miles you have and what you want to do. It sounds like you have quite a time to collect the tier points. However if you want to retain silver now the obvious is the s class. Best value is def the L class but check upgrade availability before you book. You could hold out for a sale and someone else on here can answer this better but I'm pretty sure that's a popular route in June and I'm not sure the sale will change the L or S fares.