That basically goes back to my point of "(s)omeone with 100,000 butt in seat miles every year probably has different considerations than I do and more need for actual airline status". Which, again, is legitimate.

I find that collectively, having more options (transferrable points programs that can go a lot of places) beats having eggs in one or two baskets (like, say, AS and maybe a *A program), which is where I was at for a long time, But that won't solve problems where the need is the shiny DYWKIA card when your travel plans go pear-shaped and frequent domestic upgrades.

Now that I've kind of divorced earning RDM and redeeming from which airline I fly, I'm spending less and still getting regular trips out of the US in longhaul business class. Domestically I can handle things with WN/DL/AS/whatever fits price and schedule, with a fair amount of either AMEX "misc credits", mileage/points or other trickery to cut costs. But that's probably more feasible when, like me, your Tripit statistics say you have NEVER flown 75,000 BIS miles in a year in over a decade, even the years where you've flown RTWs on awards. Low level loyalty benefits are probably not worth the $30-50 "elite and earning full RDM tax" AS imposes on every flight. They might be for other folks who get the really good stuff. If I could generate the spend + etc. where AA status via Loyalty Points spend + BIS makes sense (it really doesn't) I'd probably explore thst.