Whoa! There are people out there who think that the full-fare payers are getting a "good deal" by earning elite status through fares paid???!!! I'd suggest it's those low-fare payers who are getting the "good deal" of elite status.

I'm on the opposite side of this situation and think there are entirely too many of you elites muscling in on my full-fare first class travel.

I am also stuck in a fortress hub with few convenient choices and very high fares. Also, my company's policy is first class for flights over 2 hours (thank you very much). A recent flurry of business activity for me in the Pacific Northwest had me flying back and forth quite a bit. My normal airline's schedule wasn't terribly convenient at times and so I was forced to connect through Denver on United. I have absolutely no status with United and think I had an account balance of 25 miles or something like that.

I'm not so sure I like sharing what my company paid for with all the elites. First, on check-in I have to wait in the "regular" first class line with the lower form of United elite frequent flyer (of which there are many). While there is a nice separate line for the fewer 1k demi-gods, flying on $29 efares no doubt, who get preferential treatment at the counter.

Then, when they go to board the plane, I'm involved with the stampede at the door as first class, 1k, premex, platinum, tutoniam, magnificum, dogs, cats, etc are "invited to pre-board". Well, on some of these west-coast routes that means pretty much 75% of the aircraft. Suddenly I'm jockeying to put my bag somewhere while the 80 premex on the flight demand their god-given right to overhead space. One flight from Portland was particularly amazing.

Then I have to share the first-class cabin with many people who hadn't paid the first class fare for that route (though I'm sure the years pain and suffering back in economy are payment-in-kind). Perhaps I'm not getting the meal I want, or the level of service I'd like because first-class is packed.

To those of you wishing to separate the concepts of "loyalty" and money paid, I'd suggest that there is no difference and if you think there is then you're deluding yourselves. Certainly the airlines aren't interested in creating "loyalty", they're interested in creating assured revenue streams, ie. "money". If they call them "loyalty programs" or frequent-flyer programs, then that's just good marketing.

It seems that the notion of a first-class upgrade benefit has morphed into a "right".

Also, at times, I read on these boards the interesting discussions about non-revs and employees being seated in first-class and potential displacements and lack of upgrades as a result. The American boards bubble with sightings of "employees walking to the back". Their proper place no doubt according to some. Why shouldn't I, as a full-fare first class flyer expect the same for all the non-first-class payers?

Don't get me wrong, I hold elite status on my hometown, hub airline and when I travel personally on a discounted fare I sure enjoy checking-in at the 1st class desk and the potential for an upgrade. But all this loyalty=miles/segements and not money spent smacks of wanting your cake and eating it too. Consider yourselves lucky, because most businesses consider their best customers the ones who spend "the most" money, not who visits the store the most or orders the most. It just so happens that generally there is a high degree of correlation between those two groups.

It's not the high fare payers who are "getting a good deal" with elite status. That's normal business practice. It's the low-fare payers who are getting the good deal by being able to achieve valuable customer status just because they're persistant.