Besides complimentary upgrades on flights within the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean which are generous, status also gets you bonus miles and in the higher levels, a better shot at minimum level award tickets on Northwest. By using mileage discount coupons provided annually with the Northwest-affiliated credit card, I've also booked a number of sub-minimum level award tickets over the past several years. Status is probably the single most important leveraging feature of the Northwest WorldPerks program. If you have a shot at it, you should work achieving elite status into your strategy.