Okay, I'm sure this has been covered before, but ... how do you guys feel about this? You spend your time flying (some of you up to 300 days a year) and earning elite status the old-fashioned way. Would it bother you if you knew the flyer next to you has the same elite-level privileges but he earned them through phone, credit card or other stationary means? Or, are you a frequent buyer and proud of it? If you are uncomfortable about responding on the board, email me and let me know what's on your mind.

I would be a little (OK a lot) miffed if there were many frequent buyers who earned status (a la Pudding Guy) and flooded our planes. What would be the criteria for top tier--500,000 dollars per year?

I guess if the airlines are deriving significant revenue from the million dollar yearly buyer then maybe I shouldn't be too upset.

Just that "p**** envy" showing (pudding envy that is).

I get virtualy all my miles from sources other than flying. The airlines collect revenue for the miles they sell to MCI, Citibank, etc, so I am a paying customer of the airline in that sense. Is far as I know, the only status available from buying is American Gold when you earn one million miles from any source. This will take another two years for me to reach. I don't think the front cabins will be too crowded with frequent buyers ! As you see, I fall into the frequent buyer and proud of it catagory.

This has been touched on before in several threads - look under Amex (who let you buy elite with their new card), Starwood (who let you buy gold membership), search for pudding and you will find a myriad of reactions, and I am sure that I am missing a lot of threads.

It is not a matter of simple buyer vs. flyer, many frequent flyers will also take advantage of credit cards, MCI, healthy choice, etc. I fly a lot and also collect substantial miles through means other than flights. For example I have rarely flown British Airways, but have redeemed a business class ticket with them to the opposite side of the globe. Welcome to the new world of FF programs. I suspect that a lot of us fall in the same category. So, it would not bother me if a flyer sitting next to me had earned miles by flying, or taken a couple of extra flights near year end just to get miles/status, or bought the miles/status by stationary means.

I am both a frequent flyer, AS MVP Gold, UAL PremEX and NWA Silver Elite for 2000, and a very frequent buyer, and know the trials and tribulations of both types of avid mileage accumulation. Personally, I watch this all very carefully and designate different mileage accounts for different purposes.

I.e., all earned UAL miles go to UAL upgrades. All NWA miles go to emergency employee trips (both work related and gifts for weddings, great work rewards, etc.) and all AS miles go to the Punki's Heart's Desire Fund.

My preference is usually to sit next to a Frequent Flyer, because they "get it" and almost always have some good ideas and stories to share. When I sit next to somebody in first who can't figure out why they shouldn't be able to lay their briefcase horizontal and flat to the ailse without anybody moving it, I assume they are an infrequent flyer (with either more miles or money than common sense). They are usually less fun that the people crazy enough to fly week in and week out.

Having said all that, compared to what I do to get miles (flying and buying), Pudding Guy is a trooper and extremely creative to boot. Man he did a whole bunch of work that tires me out just thinking about it, and I would love to sit next to him in first (at least once) just to see how the mind that came up with and executed that crazy scheme works.

This is a hard one to make sense of... Let me think, I earn my statuses by staying/flying... I work as a consultant, so I know how much trouble it is flyign for a living. It is a tedious task to either get up early every week on Monday or fly out on a Sunday night to not see home till Thursday or Friday...

I do not think frequent "buyers" should be able to achieve the same statuses as us frequent flyers... I really have no problem with 25K status.. but when it gets to 50,000 or 100,000....I think it should be earned. The perks with those statuses are to make the life of someone who flies that much more comfortable and to thank them for being REALLY LOYAL!

Alot of frequent flyers are also frequent buyers.. but for the best statuses.. I really believed they should be earned, flight by flight.. mile by mile...

Well since acculmating miles from partner sources, is like prepaying for future services, I think it would be appropriate for non-flight miles to count in part towards elite status. (After all, these are frequent flyer programs.) For instance, 1 non-flight mile might count as only 0.5 mile towards elite status. That would mean it would take 50,000 non-flight miles to earn the "basic" elite status on most carriers. How many people really earn that many non-flight miles in a year?? (Outside of people like us.) It'd be interesting to see the real numbers of additional people this sort of scheme would add to the elite roster.

I think there are two issues here:

1) Do we feel earning elite status through non-flying activities is OK.

2) Should you earn FF miles through non flying activities.

IMHO I wouldn't be so happy with # 1 since presumably the person hadn't actually generated any revenue (direct) for the airline (he may have only used MCI or Visa or whatever). However i think that # 2 is perfectly fine since the person would not have any special benefits which would affect those pax who actually fly.

Maybe I'm wrong (and I probably wouldn't be too upset if it did happen) but I think to get the privileges - at least the flight related ones- of a FF you should actually fly.

I forgot to mention that while I accumulate more mile buying than flying, I get NO STATUS AT ALL from buying.

Get a lot of upgrades though!

I'm a little surprised at some of the attitudes expressed here.

As a frequent flyer, my only goal is to maximize my own comfort at the lowest possible cost. It seems reasonable, from the standpoint of fairness, to expect that everyone plays the game by the same (published) rules. Beyond that, I can't be bothered worrying about how the fellow or fellow-ette next to me got there. Isn't this a variation on one of the Seven Deadly Sins? If you become too much concerned with what other people get, eventually you'll find yourself asking to see other passengers' Elite cards and discount certificates just to make sure that someone else didn't get something they weren't entitled to. Isn't life a little too short?

- status by flying only
- earning miles and spending them as you like (free flights, upgrades) is ok too (I look at it as paying with money for better comfort).

Oh come on, Melissa, that's a very silly question.

The answer for all of us is plain and simple:

Anything that increases my status, improves my ability for an upgrade, gives me extra miles or perks or adds bonuses to my accounts is GOOD.

Anything that increases your status, improves your ability for an upgrade, gives you extra miles or perks or adds bonuses to your account that I am not able or willing to take advantage of, waters down the pool of good stuff for the "real" elites (insert definition of real meaning any category I'm in) is BAD.

No more silly questions in this century.

I don't think non flying buying should count for any type of status. However, I reiterate my point that revenue dollars should play a part in status levels (ala TW). One man's opinion...

Cheers,

'toad