Originally Posted by
canadiancow
Exactly. Earn status on an airline you can fly more.
Except that depending on your travel patterns it is likely far more expensive and difficult to earn the somewhat equivalent of SE on Miles and More which is the "home carrier" for someone like
zrh2yvr ... so up to now, the sensible choice for them was to spend $10K to earn SE and all of its benefits for transatlantic travel while also being able to avail themselves of Star Gold benefits when flying within Europe or going to Asia/Africa. Going forward the calculus changes.