Stunned at all of the posts. I've commonly left my house inside of an hour before flying out. Getting past the security lineup is bay far, the best benefit. Without it, my work day becomes me going to the airport 2 hours beforehand in case there's a huge lineup. I guess some people don't mind lining up like a cow for slaughter and waiting for 30 minutes to get through security.

Outside of that, anything that saves money is a bonus. Bag fees, flight changes and reward fees all add up. You could include flight rewards in this. I could spend $3k on a ticket for my vacation, or just use miles. $3k is a lot of after tax dollars.

I've always found the upgrades to be most important to emotional people who want their upgrade to make up for some deep seeded lack of confidence they ahve in themselves. Upgrades are nice, but unless you're flying for 3+ hours or internationally, they're not that big of a deal.

Unless I'm traveling internationally, the benefit of an upgrade, at the end of my week, is pretty marginal. A fast predictable security process (and thus getting more done in the office) is a tangible benefit as is saving money. An upgrade, at the end of my week, really hasn't improved my output any and I don't need to be in the first few rows to feel emotionally positive about myself.