While I agree with you that there are a lot of "Golds" on Skywards relative to other carriers, and as a premium member on a number of other carrier programs, the benefits that Skywards provides to its Gold members still outweighs those of others. Aside from the easier mileage requirements to reach/maintain tiers, I believe Emirates offers a good all round package in terms of benefits -- and I have personally had a more beneficial experience from these more on Emirates than other carriers.

In particular, wait list priority/guaranteed seat reservations in Y is something i have actually seen work for me on Emirates than on say BA. As a BA Gold I had to change flights recently in Oslo back to LHR, and I had to wait for 3 flights -- or the best part of a full day at OSL airport before getting on the last flight of the day in Y, despite having being ticketed in a full fare business class reservation. This is not the first time, I've often found myself having to wait 1 or 2 flights in similar situations in the past to even get a Y seat to get back home from Europe.

Operational upgrades is a bit of a hit and miss issue, but I've had a higher proportion of op-ups on EK than on BA for example.

Now I know American's Gold status doesn't count for much, i rate it more akin to a silver status on other carriers, i don't think this carries much worth for a frequent traveller like myself, with 2nd priority boarding being just about the only benefit.

My 0.002.

Rgds
Emirates777