I'm probably very different from most folks on here as I'm almost purely a leisure traveler flying on my own dime. I rarely fly more than once a year for business, and most of my trips are domestic trips with family.

I managed to maintain NW platinum when I was in grad school (all on my own dime) through taking roundabout routes to visit my parents in the midwest (ah, the days of the Mesaba ARJ guaranteed upgrade!) and finding dirt cheap flights to visit my then-fiancee who was studying abroad. But once we got married and started having kids, the timing and cost (which multiplies with kids!) of flights became WAY more important than priority boarding or extra legroom. And living in NYC, where there's no one dominant carrier, eschewing status opens up so many options for flights that are better timed or cheaper than if I was trying to concentrate on a single airline. It's actually quite freeing.