Originally Posted by sdsearch

There's a big difference today (much more than 5+ years ago) between flying legacy (AA/UA/DL) airlines when you have status and flying them with no status.

When you have status, you can select seats (including some sort of access to extra legroom seats for free at some point), you get some free checked bags, you get priority boarding (so easier time with overhead storage), etc, etc.

When you [have no] status, you have trouble selecting seats, you have to pay nickel & dime fees, you board late and may have to surrender rollaboard bags for gate check, etc, etc.