Is it status Devaluation when others have the opportunity to pay for a membership/day pass to a lounge that you get free access to via elite status? You still are getting something for free that they would have to pay for. I guess a lot of this has to do with your own personal feelings as to whether you value the thing you are getting for its tangible benefits to you, or its "eliteness" - the fact that other's can't easily get it.

I think another one of the deciding factors is whether you as a status holder looses anything as a result of their ability to purchase what you get. For my above example of lounge access, assuming that the lounge does not fill up and they don't disrupt or otherwise devalue your free lounge experience, the answer would be no. So under that theory, the "pay" check-in line would not be status devaluation if they entered a seperate line with its own pool of employees working it, but it would be devaluation if they were simply granted the right to join (or walk in front of) you in the existing elite check-in line.