Originally Posted by
pinniped
I will say this: as the miles earned from flying have decreased, I've moved back to a very neutral position when it comes to any kind of "loyalty". I hold very simple, low-level statuses that give me basic access to Oneworld and Star Alliance (AA Gold and A3 Gold). That is, borderline humane treatment (usually) and one checked bag. Throw in non-alliance airlines that seem to treat fliers humanely (usually) - Southwest, Aer Lingus, Jet Airways have all been fine for me in the past couple years - and I usually have a lot of options. (If I felt like I needed Skyteam, there's probably a credit card I could get that would make it semi-tolerable.)
If I was really doing 100,000 miles BIS, then maybe I'd still care about loyalty. But at the low-tier level...25k-50k miles flown per year I just want more direct routes, less hassle, and decent airfares, and I'm not going to give up those things to get a few more miles.
It's been years since I tried for any sort of status, partly because my flying has gone down from a couple of 100K+ BIS years to 2-3 international flights a year, but also because you don't get much with lower status that you can't get with affinity CCs.
I fly international C or F on points and pay coach for the occasional US flight. The only thing I've lost is the assurance of getting a decent seat on those US flights.