Where does the 28 yr old who has grown up lower middle class, flew once when he was 8, was given pilot wings, has take 1 midcon trip a year for the past 10 years to visit mom and dad, all on UA, and would never think about another airline, as UA has been his choice since the beginning. The dude MAY have enough for a saver award. Where does he rank?

One roundtrip a week on a midcon would get him 1k status on miles. 1 roundtrip a week, shorter haul, taking 3-4 weeks off for vacation, would not on segments or miles. Either of them could be paying $30k to UA, or 10k to UA. Both will get their bag fees waived, free E+ UDU if they can clear, but do they both "deserve" SWUs, CR1's access to NY space? To some they do, to some they don't. The system doesn't reward people based on what they deserve. That would be far too labor intensive given the current environment, and those that felt they deserved but didn't get, well, they may go to a program that rewards frequency over revenue. The system isn't equitable, but it is fair. The program rewards for the current travel are known, and the value proposition is there for each to make. A merit based system for profitable behavior with proportional rewards is too uncompetitive. It takes "the masses" as well as the big hitters in order to pay the bills, but perks do dilute revenue. While airlines create new revenue streams, those that would contribute the most to them are exempt at even a relatively low level of frequency. I have no idea the number of "elites" but how many industries give perks like the airlines do to hundreds of thousands of individuals? I would say only the travel industry, and maybe the credit card industry, with the possibility of the auto industry when you consider some of their "repeat customer" incentives.