Originally Posted by
slawecki
can one get MM status with credit card purchases? if so, that can be easy with ownership of a firm.. many of my suppliers demanded immediate payment and accepted a credit card(guess i was deemed untrusty). air travel payments for employees add up. i generated a couple hundred thousand miles a year buying inventory. most of it on starwood amex, which does not have a MM package, but allows transfer of miles to many airlines(and at 1.2 to 1) . i have a ton of miles on LH. they have no mm program either.
i don't really need mm status, as i have enough miles to fly in biz class tatl when i want to go any distance. short flights, what's the diff?
AA used to count any kind of miles-flights, credit cards, etc. Now I think it's BIS miles only. UA has always been that way although they did allow bonus flight miles when they merged with Continental which is how I got so many lifetime UA miles. While SPG doesn't have a "million mile" program, they do have a lifetime status program based on number of nights stayed. I got lifetime Gold with SPG that way.
To answer your question, main benefit to me is that I don't fly business/first on domestic flights because it's not worth the extra miles/$$ to me. However, where I don't have status like United/Delta/US Air, I don't like regular coach because invariably the guy in front of me puts his seat back and I have no room for anything. Having status allows me to get economy plus, exit row, bulkhead, etc.