In general, my concept of loyalty to airlines is pretty much dead. If I had a puppy, I think we'd be loyal to each other. Airlines and I don't share that relationship. It's more adversarial.

I'm very close to 1MM on AA - I'll probably hit that later this year. I don't fly as often anymore, so Lifetime Gold will absolutely be of value to me. I will look at AA first for my travel needs, which is probably the main goal of a lure like Lifetime Gold. But if AA isn't competitive otherwise, the status won't keep me from looking elsewhere.