I'm going to be a little harsh here, and recognize that some of this may be sacrilege on these boards.
I've never understood the notion that high status with an airline somehow equals "importance". Yeah, you're a sales guy with quotas to make, that probably puts you at the lower-middle to middle level on most corporate totem poles. Either that or you're a recently-minted MBA in your late 20s or early 30s and a slave to a consulting firm and have no life as you work 90 hours a week and live in hotel rooms every Monday through Thursday. Yeah, like I'm so envious that as a fringe benefit you are double super dooper platinum with some airline, some hotel chain, and some rental car company.
Anyone who derives their sense of identity and pride and ego by way of an airline-defined hierarchy utilizing a taxonomy of precious metals needs to examine their life. I was guilty of that when I was younger and traveled a lot on business. Now, 24 years into my career, my travel is considerably less than it once was, but I have a better sense of what really matters in life (human relationships to which I can commit time and energy being
#1 ), and I'm much happier for it. Sure, I have my modest Gold status with Delta and take advantage of it, but I don't tout it, certainly don't use bag tags announcing myself as such, and I don't obsess over maintaining it year over year; if I do, great, if I suffer the indignity of falling to Silver or peon class, so be it, who cares.