Originally Posted by maracle

I'm generally ok with being non-elite, but I have had two periods with heavy enough travel to gain some type of status.

I used to be A-list on Southwest, which was nice just so I wouldn't have to check in 24 hours in advance. I preferred Southwest at that point because they had non-stop flights to the places I was going. Saved time was my primary goal.

Now I'm Gold on AA, and I didn't really expect this to mean much of anything. However it's actually turned out to be surprisingly nice. I can select exit row seats and aisle seats near the front, even when the seat map would be locked out for non-elites. I get free bags. I get to use the PriorityAAccess line at the ticket counter, skip the line at security, and board first. Yesterday when many flights were canceled due to Dallas weather I was able to call the Gold service desk and get an agent without any time on hold.

All in all, I didn't realize how much time and annoyance even the lowest elite level would provide!