Benner

It was the goal for me. When I hit SE I was *really* excited. IKK and upgrades were my favourite perks at the time, but the status and treatment also felt very cool. This was about 12 years ago and I was flying between Vancouver and Calgary regularly and qualified on segments. There were a few of us from work that would add a stop in order to double the segments earned from each trip. I also had an unlimited Flight Pass for a while, which made earning SE easier.

I loved the benefits, but as a primarily YVR-based western-flying SE it was a slog. I bounced around being an SE, going down to 50K and earning SE again when I moved to Toronto and was flying YYZ to YYC at least once every two weeks. Then the pandemic hit.

I have no desire to do the same amount of flying anymore. It isn't healthy for me. Pre-pandemic AC's OTP was pretty awful, so I'd spend a ton of time in airports due to delays, drink too much and eat too much crap food. Being an SE doesn't make a difference when there is a delay and you are on the last flight out of Calgary and doesn't improve the healthiness of AC's food. I do love the eUpgrades, but if I'm only flying once a month they become less of an issue. I'm also at a point in my life where I'm paying for more J fares.

I've qualified for next year, have a banked year thanks to hitting the the 250,000 threshold (thanks to credit card spend) and will likely just go back to being a 50K. I'll likely miss being an SE, but at the same time I'd rather spend more time living my life and less time on a plane. It also will result in a lot less emails to AC Customer Relations

canadiancow

I (barely) earned 35K at the end of 2012. The year they didn't do "sweeps" because they were transitioning to Altitude.

March 1 2013 I became 35K. It was glorious. MLL access. eUpgrades. Wow.

My goal for that year was 50K. It was going to be tight with some creative FP routings, but I knew I could do it.

Then EYWv1 hit, and I was 50K before summer, easily on target for 85k AQM.

So I picked up my flying a bit. I hit 75K by the end of summer. I noticed a huge change in upgrades. Most were clearing ahead of time, and most of the rest were clearing at the gate.

Then on my flight up to YYZ for the December do, I crossed 100k AQM, and shortly thereafter, I was officially SE.

My first trip as SE had a cancellation and an overnight. I was rebooked to a morning flight, keeping my upgrade. The standby list on that flight was about 150 people long. It was an E90.

While waiting to board that flight, another passenger and I were chatting. He mentioned he received an email about his cancellation, which I had not. He pointed to his 50K (or 75K?) tag and said "it's probably because of this". I showed him my BP. It felt good.

Meal priority over the next couple years felt great, as did most of the other perks.

But I'm certainly over the "glamor" now.

The benefits are still generally good. Lounge access for me and a +1 everywhere in the world (for life now, with MM). Easy upgrades. 50% discounts on all my crappy (non-F) redemptions. Concierge access. Meal priority.

But I'm also in a very different situation than 10 years ago, so:
1. Earning SE is trivial. It takes no effort, barring a global pandemic.
2. I just don't care any more. I book a lot of AA/DL/AS F, because the price/schedule is better. I credit most of my UA flights to UA. I am on track to "legitimately" earn Silver this year (versus IRROPS rebooking into full F, which got it for me the first time, or getting it through Marriott). I booked DXB-FRA-SFO (LH/LH) instead of DXB-YYZ-SFO (AC/AC) for no real reason. I've requalified for 2023, and I have 5 banked years. I could stop flying today and I'd be SE through 2028.

3MM would be nice. And given where I live and where I travel (YVR/YYZ/YYC are probably my top destinations, in that order), I'm sure I'll continue to rack up the LQM. But even 2MM is years away for me.

The first time is definitely special. I can't really imagine flying AC without SE any more. But it does get old.

EdmFlyBoi

It definitely does get old, but there was still excitement when I finally became SE for the first time. All of the opportunities lately for achieving status have kind of made it less "exclusive" and I have found that disappointing. At the same time, flying AC and not being SE will likely be an eye opener (although I am good now till the end of 2024).

I also have started to look at other carriers for lots of different reasons. Flying paid J on other carriers does mean you get most of the benefits, so maybe if you are routinely flying J, having status is less of big deal.

I have found the best part of being SE is the concierge. They generally look after the SE's well, and along with the priority awards, is probably the benefit I have enjoyed the most.

YVR4Ever

After too many years of 35k up to 50k, back down to 35k, up to 75k, etc., reaching SE has long been one of my travel goals.

I finally hit it last December, thanks to the status bump promo, and although I know I am a beneficiary of status dilution, it still felt pretty great. My first flight was YYC-YVR, so not much to report on, but walking up to the SE desk in YYC to print my boarding pass and check my bag was nice. Earlier this year, it was nicer still to see my name at the top of a long e-up waitlist, and I haven't yet got tired of the little things like a free drink in Y, ordering my meal first, and just generally being treated better by everyone from check-in agents to gate staff.

Now that I've requal'd for next year, I am already scheming how to maximize my rollovers and organic travel to make sure I can qualify again for 2024. Once you've sampled SE, it's pretty hard to think about slipping back to a "mere" E of some sort.

MaxFlying

I first made SE after doing two SIN runs in Y on UA in a period of a few weeks. Drove YVR-SEA, then flew SEA-SFO-NRT-SIN, 7 hours in the transit hotel, and back again. So I felt tired

FlyingUsedToBeFun

Mine was very much the same. I have had some form of status for may years now, but in 2011 or 2012 I realized I was one round-trip flight to Europe away from SE. I quickly booked a trip to ZRH for that night with a turnaround on the same aircraft. The funny thing is that my girlfriend was flying in to Toronto that night so I needed to get her buy-in on being there to greet her when she arrived

She was happy for me to do it (knew that I wanted it) and I had a great time, with e-ups clearing on both ends. It was a great feeling at the time. I kept SE for a couple of years, then switched to UA. I have come back to AC/AP/Altitude and have made it back up to E75 with SE around the corner (so to speak). As others have said, although you may not enjoy it as much over time, it is hard to go without once you have had it. So enjoy away!

BlondeBomber

Hit SE in fall of 1998 (first year of SE for everyone) when pilots went on strike so took advantage of some great post-strike promos with triple Q miles (no spend back then). Cheap fares and lots of bonuses so took a couple of trips to LAX and SFO to top up to get the required miles.

I was just gobsmacked at the benefits that flowed but it was a slow realization of all the benefits, most notably1999 -- a particularly wonderful year for SEs with upgrades coming fast and furious and all sorts of other bennies.

Was briefly only Elite during SARS when I was working in China but have been SE in every year since 1998 anyway and still appreciate the status for the many privileges, even with the many lost benefits over the years.

RangerNS

Do you mean "for you", (as you organically travel a lot and don't need to play games) or generally, for everyone (perhaps with some judgement that SE is thus less valuable)?

zkzkz

Do you feel like you really spend 3-4x as much and fly 3-4x as much on revenue tickets as you used to back then? Or have you just started spending more per mile?

I'm wondering what changes in travel pattern and spend pattern makes it so easy to qualify for 100k+. I know you do a lot of back and forth from SF to Canada but it doesn't seem like that would add up nearly as fast as you're describing. I'm guessing you're doing a lot more revenue trips than you used to?

Nitehawk

Cow is not mortal like most of us. He manages to fly SFO-YYZ via MUC in paid J for less than SFO YYZ in flex.

AC*SE

I earned it back in 1997 when there was a special "earn 25K Q-miles [as they then were] in the next three months and get SE status for next year."

A few Y2 round trips from LGA-YYZ-LHR upgrading with the then system wide upgrade certs was enough to do the trick.

krayZpaving

Don't recall the SE-making flight any more, but qualified first in 2012 and have held it since (with next year qualified already and another "banked' year too). I do remember my MM flight: YVR-ORD in J in 2A on an E75 or E90 (so the best seat in the house of course!). Had an extra glass of wine to celebrate that quietly

canadiancow

The previous line in my post was "But I'm also in a very different situation than 10 years ago, so:". I'm talking about me

I'm not flying 3-4x as many miles, but maybe that many more trips. 2013 had MRs. And creative routings. I don't need those any more.

I take trips outside of North America too.

Academic

I hit SE in 2001, (courtesy of the Mexican Hat dance if I recall), and stayed there until 2015. It changed my whole experience of flying. It felt great that first year and every year after that. The promotions were much more generous back then and made mileage runs worth while. Sadly, I slowed down in 2015, and partly as a consequnce of covid, i've not been on a flight since February 2020, in EF first, no less. The one positive aspect of not being SE is that you don't have to stay chained to AC to make the 100 k every year. But enjoy it while you can.

CdnFlier

I got it for the first time back in maybe 2009 thanks a cheap HKG MR? It seemed pretty impossibly far off, but in the years before there had been some unlimited flight passes for cheap (thank you recession) and it got me paying attention. I don't know specifically about celebrating, but I felt pretty self-satisfied and likely had one or three too many glasses of something in a pod.

But then I had a fall from grace around 2013 later due to life circumstances and not flying so much and started the next year as 25k - that was harsh! It's definitely tough to go back from SE. I crawled back the next year until the AQD requirements kicked in and that was it for me at SE. I did the miles, but could never quite hit the $20k spend. I guess I was the riff raff they were trying to get rid of

The last few years has been a lot of E50/E75k time but it looks like SE will happen again finally so maybe I'll be celebrating with you! ...or maybe I'll stick to points and start next year with all of my miles earned for 75k before I step foot on a plane. I'm just jealous of all the banked years floating around! I can do 100k or even 125k in a year, but 250k is quite a distance.

Enjoy it when you get it, because it's going to ruin flying without it!