I think that's your answer right there. "Back in the day" the rental car companies used to be much more strict about annual requalification for upgraded status tiers in their programs. Now I think they've decided that handing out free candy is a better way to keep attracting us kids. There probably aren't too many consumers other than the FT crowd who have figured out how easy it is to have top-tier status at multiple agencies and then shop based on price. Most folks just have, for example, PC even if they don't requalify for it year after year but who will keep using Hertz because of those benefits. If Hertz dumped them down to no status, they'd likely shop around based on price and might find they like a competitor better.