Originally Posted by metallo

Congrats! A lot of the personalized assistance is great, particularly the tarmac transfers and IROPS handling. You’re also fairly guaranteed to get through to a U.S. based human being right away when you call the CK line, and you can even email them if you can’t or don’t want to make a phone call (they typically respond to emails in less than an hour).

For someone who is retired and plans not to be renewed, I think the best advice would be to book the absolute cheapest economy tickets you can find and enjoy the top upgrade priority. You’ll have access to the Flagship Lounge domestically. Waved copays on mileage upgrades (if you’re doing longhaul international, for example) is a nice feature also.

Most of us who are CK ideally want to keep requalifying, so we continue to buy expensive F/J tickets. If you don’t care about trying to keep earning the status, or you don't think you want to spend your retirement funds on it, I’d be frugal and just enjoy the top tier benefits while they last!