Back from 4th TATL trip to LHR on contracted gig. Out of the 8 segments i was op-uped on 6 of them.

That is not WORTHLESS!

This was a one price consulting contract with 4 visits to London built in. Premium travel does not start until the 5th trip due to their "failure to meet time or performance milestones" The difference between premium seat and DL EC seats is a $12,000 contribution to my pension fund.

Good for you.

Glad you enjoy it.

I prefer the pointy end.

Lounge access, priority seating, upgrades, etc. are being monetized these days and can be bought for token amounts per trip.
For the occasional traveler it may be worthwhile to buy a cheap Y ticket but spend a little bit more on Economy comfort (E+) and perhaps buy a 1-day lounge pass.
For the loyal frequent flyer this means LOWER upgrade probabilities, OVERCROWDED lounges, and LESS seat selection.

It is similar to anything in life - if you have not experienced it, you cannot appreciate it.

If you also like getting less for your money then no status is for you!

Well said ^

Just flew BOM-SIN-NRT-LAX in coach, but with Star Gold status. The status was HUGE:

1) Flew a domestic flight to BOM that landed 4.5 hours before our international flight. With Star Gold, we were able to bypass the HUGE lines for check-in (and check-in early since they said no at first but said yes once I said "Star Gold"). Because of that, we were able to head to the lounge and have dinner there (saving us $35+ for 2 people).

2) Being able to board early on an A380 is huge if you're in coach. Poor fella across the aisle boarded 20 minutes after us and had to gate-check his bag.

3) At NRT, we were about 22 hours into our journey, and being able to hit the ANA lounge for a shower was definitely a huge hit. Plus the transit was at about 1am LA time, so being able to eat dinner in the lounge and fall asleep immediately after departure helped with jet lag issues.

4) Priority bags were out first and got us through CBP a lot faster (though Global Entry seems a lot more appealing after my first TBIT experience in 7 years).

That was on an international flight. Even domestically, elite status really helps. Just in the past few months, I've been able to change a flight to an earlier one (saving $50 each time), check a ton of bags for family trips ($100s), and get better service over the phone and at the airport.

That said, to each their own. 60K miles per 2.5 years is pretty light ... I used to be in the 30K a year range, but having done 86K miles since February, that seems too little!

60K miles in 2 1/2 years is a tad less than 25K miles/yr. You need 25K EQM to even reach the lowest elite status ... the lowest elite status is a bit better than your current non status (affectionately referred to as gate lice/Kettle class - as in Ma and Pa Kettle). Decent elite perks don't really kick in until 50K EQM/yr and IMHO, aren't great until you're flying 100K EQM/yr.

At 100K EQM/yr (or even 50K EQM/yr), you definitely recognize how nice the perks of status are. I was a UA 1K for a few years and whenever a flight cancelled, I was usually automatically rebooked on the next flight. My coworkers with lesser status were usually left behind, waiting until all higher status flyers were accomodated.
But again, you fly so little annually that you aren't going to appreciate the elite perks. Post again when you fly 100K miles in a year with multiple airlines and don't have status beyond silver - I guarantee you'll have a different assessment of the value of elite status. And I guarantee you'll start aiming your travel toward one main carrier/alliance with a second carrier/alliance as a backup.

Here's a question for you. Have you ever flown in F or even C?

Along with others, my main perk is

--> extra leg space <--

either in the exit row, front row bulkhead, Economy Plus or by upgrade. I'm 6'7" and simply don't fit into a regular economy seat.

I would love to see an accurate spreadsheet of the extra costs of loyalty, including MRs. In my case it is often much more expensive than just choosing the cheapest carrier. The spreadsheet would give the products reasonable values - like $10 not 50$ for lounge access. People like to pretend they are getting the best value with their status, but this isn't always the case. Think about all the missed upgrades, priority bags out last, etc. It's a good deal and I'll shoot for it when it's reasonable, but it's certainly not aa amazing of a benefit as say signup bonuses

True. How much value do you place on elite checkin/security lines? Depending on the airport, that single perk can save you more than an hour of your time.

I have saved a LOT thanks to Same Day confirmed being free. There have been times the flight I want on is more expensive than a later flight, so I will book the later flight and 90%+ of the time I can same day confirm into the earlier flight for free (would be $50 each time if I wasn't elite). There are also times I wil book the latest flight of the day because I am not sure if I can get out of the office early at the time of booking, and if it works out I can leave early I just SDC into the earlier flight.

And the security lines are great as well, especially since I can use TSA precheck thanks to my elite status.

That's also another one of those benefits that can be had with a free credit card signup.

What credit card gives you elite security line access that is fee free?

A couple will let you board with the lowest level elites, but not use the priority security line. The only one I know of that does is the Delta Reserve card and that has a hefty $450 a year fee

I hope elite security line access is a benefit the airlines NEVER give credit card holders.

I travel medium to long haul internationally and haven't used mileage runs to achieve Platinum status, but have been judicious about things like almost getting to Diamond on Delta and then holding back to get rollover miles, or mileage challenges etc to get to Chairman on US.

I have benefited in terms of:

1) Time-saver/convenience it is great in terms of faster check-in times in places like CDG, JFK and even TLV and shorter customs lines at CDG.

2)A bunch of domestic upgrades on US and DL when I'm in the US and an op-up to business from TLV-AMS with my wife and 2 kids on a KLM 777 which was a highlight of the trip for the kids.

3) Serious cash savings on checking luggage when traveling with the family (we have a lot of bags traveling back to TLV from the US).

4) Cash savings on food/drinks when I can go to the lounge instead of buying refreshments at the airport (even better when with the family)

5) Earlier boarding allowing me to carry-on my luggage and get it in the overhead so I don't risk involuntary checking (and more convenience when traveling with the kids)

6) Will likely upgrade from coach to business on a future PHL-TLV flight which is a nice free perk

7) I'm taking my whole family to Morocco on AF in October on miles and if I cancel the trip up to 72 hours before, there are no cash penalties to credit the miles back to my account.

I don't think I'd go out of my way to get it in terms of MRs or whatever, but for someone who travels as much as I do, it's a big time/money saver.

I'll try to apply this topic (poorly) to another aspect of life. Gasoline prices.

If you drive 1,000 miles a year, you're probably not all that concerned with gas prices. But if you drive 20,000+ miles a year, you're going to be more sensitive to gasoline price changes.
While that's a poor translation to elite status, I find the same lack of care/concern for fuel prices among those who don't drive/drive very little.


It only took me one transatlantic redeye to see the value of Global Premier Upgrades (6/yr as a 1K ... at the time, they were called SWUs) - the difference between flying a flight to Europe in Y vs C was huge. I was tired for several days after traveling in Y, while I was rested and ready to go after getting decent rest in C. When I ran out of upgrade certs, I'd use miles to upgrade.