Of course there are exceptions to every generality but this comes from those who designed the AC elite program itself and was the rationale for the 35K threshold for Elite (which varied from most other FF programs). Only a small percentage of SEs are primarily domestic or NAmerican fliers, the number having increased somewhat with the introduction of the flight passes a few years ago.
Originally Posted by
ac/elite
You have often repeated that, but I'm not sure it is true. Any commuter with an unlimited flight pass gets at least 10,000 status miles/month, more if it is a Latitude pass. I've got a western commuter unlimited pass and travel to Alberta from BC weekly. There are always a few SE's on the flights and I see the same people regularly. The ones I've spoken to seem all to have unlimited passes. While I've made a couple overseas trips, most of my travel has been NA.
I'm with those people who have mentioned the ridiculous reduction from 25,000 to 15,000 threshold miles at 150,000. How stingy is that?
People seem pretty happy that there are few perceived reductions in the program in 2012, but there have been big reductions. They just came during the 2011 year gradually. The worst in my opinion has been the virtual elimination of IKK for SE in executive class, particularly on overseas flights. I was really hoping that they were going to fix that with the 2012 program.