Punki this is a good question and one that I am asking myself as an AS MVP Gold. Are the benefits really any good? The biggest one is probably the double miles, and a majority of free upgrades. But as people have mentioned, F on domestic routes is often pretty similar to Y.

I am not sure why the airlines are cutting back on the elite benefits. I am not a marketing specialist, but so many programs hotel, airline etc, are making loyalty something that is not important, rather they only want the high paying customer. I used to be Hilton Gold, until I found out that Hilton status benefits only apply if you pay more. So I find it is just better to pay less.

Airlines are doing the same, be loyal and if you pay enough we will give you benefits. Maybe it is time to take pleasure that we can just pay less.

There are options for to give yourself 'your own' elite benefits. - Punki benefits!

For example, with Hilton, I book on priceline, save $100 per stay, then go out for a nice steak dinner (on the difference I would have paid) and tell myself that is the Elite Smilee program benefit. A nice steak dinner and a free breakfast. Ha ha

Next, I will use my credit card miles for maybe a longer haul ultra cheap upgrade. I have a variety of FF points from various credit card programs, that I can choose the cheapest flight to upgrade on. Again Elite Smilee program.

Finally, from all the savings, I can now afford to buy a consolidator fare to Asia, instead of booking that coach seat and hoping that the series of flights even had space to upgrade on.