WOW! You guys pay good! I pay my sitters what I got paid when I sat; $3.00 an hour! Or, sometimes we have a sitter come over after our son goes to bed at arounf 9:00 while we go out dancing. We usually don't gewt home until around 2 or 3 a.m. so we just pay $20 for the night.
Review your travel periodically. Generally, Global Services members attain elite Mileage Plus status. The top level in the Mileage Plus program requires a 100,000 annual mileage minimum. A Global Services invitation will arrive if you become one of United's best customers. Frequent international travel in paid first class or business class offers a better opportunity to reach Global Services status.
United charges as much as 20,000 miles plus $550 each way for a business-class upgrade between North America and Europe. If you want to upgrade a partner flight (e.g., using United's miles on Lufthansa), the co-pay requirement is dropped, though you will need to buy a full-fare ticket. Calculate how much money you will actually save for a discounted business-class seat before redeeming an award upgrade with both miles and a co-pay. It probably comes as no surprise that upgrades are generally a bad use of miles.