Or if you book certain rooms/suites. Or if your host decides to set it up for you. :)

true there are a lot of ways to earn a free ride from the airport but I was specifically replying to the statement that

Limo ride is guaranteed for noir, but the level of play required to get limo service is nowhere near the level of play required to get noir.

I am platinum and I always get limo service (not just to/from the airport), suites, and room charges up to about $1000 or $2000 taken care of, as well as any show or event tickets that I'm interested in.

Having said that, I suspect that I am nowhere near the level of play required for noir. I know people who put in about 10x the play per trip that I do (5x the play per year -- I go a lot) and are platinum. MGM is secretive about the noir requirements but I suspect that unless you are a real whale (7 figures per trip) there is a loss requirement in there as well.

If the taxi guy puts bags in the car or if I skip a REALLY long line I will usually tip him a couple of dollars. Getting the dirty looks from all the people who have been waiting in line for 20 minutes is the best platinum perk! $2 well spent, especially if they think that I only skipped the line because I "bribed" the guy :D

As for the limo driver, I think that $10 is reasonable -- $20 if you had him go out of his way (ie, an extra stop)

I tip $5 every time. It's by far the best perk of Plat to me, so I don't mind tipping for it especially as I'm sure they get lots of crap for it from people in line.

It is included in all of our offers. We are Platnium. We were Noir before it became by invitation only. We average around 1 million tier points per year.

Oddly, when I logged into mLife on my phone, it showed the Noir target as 1 million tier points. This was last year - they may have masked it since then.

Initially with the mLife rollout, Noir started as an opaque, invite-only level. It was briefly changed to 1 million tier points for a few months, then changed back to being opaque again. You can see discussion on this issue earlier in this thread. Also, note that at the time of rollout, having 1 million tier points was not independently sufficient for Noir (I had personal experience on that), and that appears to be true again now based on posts both in this thread and on other forums.

They have masked it. I was over 2M TC before they reset and I'm still Platinum. I know someone in the 8-10M TC range who is still Platinum.

I have heard a rumor (and got it verified by m-life customer service on facebook) that you need a minimum of 2M TC before you even get considered for noir. At that point I am not sure what they base it on. I suspect that it is some formula that combines average trip theo (or maybe ADT) and loss, and the requirements are very high.

Noir itself isn't worth all that much. Most of the good benefits are included in platinum anyway, and, if you are playing a lot, you will get all the additional noir benefts (eg, limo service) from your host anyway. The extra 10% boost to slot points / express comps / HGS pts is really the only thing you are missing out on by being platinum.

I have been waiting and waiting for the Mlife website to allow me to book an offer at Vdara for January (30% room discount + $150 credit). But, when I look through T&C at end, just before clicking to book, I see that the language hasn't changed -- offer only good through 29 December. Any guidance here? It's always a bear to verify on arrival the offer (resort credit, not room rate), and a screen shot of this language is not likely to help come January.

Unfortunately, you have to wait until the next offer comes out.

The only worthwhile benefit of Noir is the line passing at restaurants. My friend would do this at every restaurant.. CPK @ Mirage, Noodles @ Bellagio, etc. etc.

If you have a good rating then status doesn't matter when it comes to limo transfer, suites, and resort credit. It shouldn't be hard to get back-end comps on top if you put in good play too.

You get that with platinum too. You skip lines at taxi stands and restaurants.

You also get into a lot of things free that you would normall have to pay for. This isn't really advertised anywhere though -- you need to ask.

For example, a gold or higher card will get you and a guest into Moorea for free (I go there a lot). That is normally a $50 cover for guys on weekends, so it's saving you up to $100 of cover charges per day.

If you'd rather look at aquatic life than mostly-naked women, I believe that platinum and higher is good for entry for you and a guest into the shark reef. I think it also gets you into the dolphin habitat, but I'm not sure about that. I'm not sure about the art gallery (I don't think so), but it wouldn't hurt to ask. You also skip the line at a lot of nightclubs (including all the ones run by light group). Then of course there is the free cruise, and the free UFC fight club membership if you're into that.

And, you can get tier matched at Hyatt.

I think I've posted in this thread about my experiences with Platinum, but as recently as this spring, Plat was good for 3-4 free tickets to:
- Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay
- Secret Garden & Dolphin Habitat as Mirage
- Art Gallery at Bellagio

As well as skip the line to taxi lines and restaurants and entry to pools/beaches at hotels where you aren't staying.

Oh nice; I wasn't sure about the Art Gallery.

You also get free entry to some non-hotel-owned pools (like Moorea). Due to the partnership with Light Group, you also get "VIP Entry" into their nightclubs and pools, although I think that this just means that you don't have to wait in line (you don't get the cover waived or anything) and I'm not sure how many of the people who are working the doors at the clubs and pools are aware of this.

A host with some pull can pretty much get you into whatever you want, though.