Having status in these situations is very very helpful, trust me. As a 1K with United, I usually get responses within 12-24 hours after filing a complaint or asking a question on their customer care site. A lot of bad PR for the airlines over the last couple of years (IMHO) have resulted in improvements in this category. Let's hope this is the new trend and it remains this way...... and those with lower or no status are treated equally in these situations.