Originally Posted by
CJKatl
I am in a similar boat, having abruptly stopped business travel two years ago but about to have it start again. I also appreciated the flexibility LT membership allows and that I got benefits when traveling for leisure. When I stopped flying a few times a week I was at 950k DL Skymiles; a few short of their LT Silver benefits and have gone back to being nobody with them, so I am acutely aware of the benefit of having LT status with Marriott.
I hear you on the airlines
I was EXP on AA and did manage to get LT Plat when they were counting all miles earned toward the 2MM threshold. However USAirdbaAA diluted Plat by introducing a new tier [Plat Pro] in between Plat and EXP. I still feel lucky that I can avoid bag fees and paying for seats. Otherwise its pretty much being a kettle on AA again.