Status is important to me - I hate not having status mostly when traveling with the family. I have two young children and a wife to travel with me, so lots of stuff to travel with.

Beginning with seat selection options opened up via status, ability to find additional frequent flyer seats, ability to have earned more miles than non-status individuals to be able to book more rewards seats.

Next the check-in and the experience of not standing in line for too long with the family and having priority tagged bags. More chances to scrape by with a little extra weight in the bags.

Security Checks - taking the shorter line and quite often being able to select a line without the body imagers.

Lounge access - a place to cool the heels before getting on the plane and not dealing with the lack of seats or the noise. Having a childrens area to keep the kids busy is also a good start to the flight. Grabbing a couple of free bottles of water for the journey is an added perk. Perhaps a mimosa before heading to the gate.

Upgrades - enough said.

OpUps - rare but has happened to me now a number of times.

Boarding - taking the wife and kids and all our bags onto the plane and being able to get settled without people pushing past and having room to stow the bags make a great start.

In flight i find certain flight attendants do actually treat you a little more courteously if they know you have status.

Arrivals - having those priority tags bags arriving earlier than others to be able to clear customs and be on our way.

Basically the less hassle I can have with the family on trips we take together is what makes it worth while to me.

I don't mind flying without status too much when it is just myself or when my family is taking a domestic vacation. For my family we generally take 1 or 2 international vacations each year with the long flight being greater than 10 hours.

With life time status hopefully lasting my lifetime and not the lifetime of my program then I am content for now.

E