I have done no business flying for 18 months but have done considerably more leisure flying over that period, almost all of it in paid First. I don't have any direct status with AA (although I am Gold with BA and hence EXP equivalent when flying on AA) so if I want to fly F then I have to pay for it. That said, there were some incredibly good deals to be had if you didn't mind flying LAX - DFW - PHX - LAS (as an example). In a normal year I will usually get a little over 1500 TPs with BA to maintain my Gold status. This year getting 2500+ is on the cards. In terms of the % of elites travelling, I wonder if the statistics take into account those of us who hold status from other OW airlines? I doubt it would influence the statistics that much, but it's probably something that needs to be factored in.