Up to this year, I flew whatever flight was cheapest and most convenient, ignoring the miles (in fact, even used Priceline many times for flights, since miles meant nothing). I stayed at the best hotel for the money paid, which was most convenient to my goal, and I rented the best car for the money when I went on vacation.

This year, I decided to throw all of my business toward getting AA miles. Stayed at certain hotels, booked flights and car rentals that might be a few dollars more in order to get Aadvantage miles, and flew virtually all (except for about 2 or 3) of my flights this year on American. That probably cost me about an extra thousand or so dollars, but I flew mostly first class at an average upgrade cost of about $350 more per trip.

I also even considered flying an extra 40,000 miles or so and spending an extra $1,600 in doing so to make Executive Platinum.

Now, AA has begun substantially devaluing its miles and reducing its elite benefits, most recently charging an extra $500 per round trip to use your miles to upgrade from any non-extortion fare. I am glad I did not fly the extra miles, and I am seriously re-evaluating the costs and benefits of my brand loyalty.

I am slowly reaching the conclusion that I have no need to pay substantial extra money to obtain service on flights that is not much better than I would get had I kept my old course. If I walk away from elite status, I will save myself a few thousand dollars this year, and not deal with substantially less in the way of benefits than I have gotten by becoming elite.

So, it might just be that the ramifications of walking away from elite status in these days are: 1) You save a bunch of money; and 2) You see a barely noticeable drop in service and benefits.