How important is airline elite status to you
 

A recent discussion of making mileage run to make top level CP/AC Executive Platinum/Super Elite in the AC/CP forum have prompted a reply by one of the FT member:
I strongly disagree with that statement... what do others think? How important do you value you FF status (doesn't matter what tier)?

For me, the following advantages are important enough to maintain status-

1) Use of lounges

2) Bonus points accrue at a rate that make it very unlikely that I will sit in the back of the plane flying across an ocean

3) No hassle about baggage because of F baggage allowance no matter what class is flown

4) Guarenreed seat on any flight if booked 48 / 72 hours in advance

5) Possibility of free upgrades

All of the above but in addition the fact that top tier status allows you to do half as many mileage runs http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Empress, you might be interested in a related thread currently running over in United:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/002936.html

Elite status is worth quite a lot. When I compare my travel experiences with those of friends and coworkers who are not elite, I can really appreciate the value. I get special check-in lines, access to lounges, early boarding, bonus miles, unlimited upgrades domestically, and quite a few internationally (on Delta). These things have real value. Anybody who says otherwise is just trying to be provocative.

Bruce

My reasons, in order

Most Important, without a doubt, is the separate check in line when the check in line is hours long.

Priority Boarding (pretty much guranteed overhead space)

Empty middle seat when available

Separate reservation number, usually answered on the first ring by a person

Mileage bouns

Elite Status is very important to me:

1. Bonus miles - enough to keep me out of coach and into business or first class.

2. upgrades - whether complimentary, operational or by use of miles.

3. Service - almost always treated very well.

4. Baggage allowance.

5. lounges

-RKG

My CO Silver Elite status is worth probably $1500 or more a year to me.

Why?

1) 18/20 FC upgrades, that I would NEVER pay for.

2) Priority Check-in. This is HUGE when the airoprt is busy. I value my time at no less than $50 an hour, so if I am save an hour on a round-trip, that's worth $50 to me.

3) Bonus miles give me essentially a free ticket a year ($400 value).

Elite status gives a number of creature comforts that make air travel less stressful, more pleasant, with more room in the aircraft. I board easier and my checked luggage arrives faster. In brief, my travel is easier... and that's worth the effort to qualify for elite status.

I second all that is stated above.

For me Elite Status is VERY important:
#1-#10 UNLIMITED FREE UPGRADES: As a CO Platinum, I've gotten used to always being upgraded (no points, miles, dollars etc needed) on domestic flights. (Overseas is another matter http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif )
#11- Treatment by airline- I always seem to get better treatment as soon as they see my elite level, whether it is flight changes, seat assignments or just a smile http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif.
#12-Preboarding
As for the rest, yes I agree the extra miles, points etc are great--but not as important to me.
In fact, I've gotten so used to being an elite on CO, I really really hate it when I am forced to fly another carrier as only a mere passenger!

I totally agree with all of the above, which are rationale reasons. However, consumer behaviour is very much driven by emotional reasons - in the case of FF status, the feeling of being important, both to self and others, it's sort of an achievement and almost a means to self-realisation. If there's anyone who has studied psychology, he'll be able to explain this better.

I work in brand marketing in FMCG and this is just so true. A lot of us deny this but it is a fact - subconsciously our behaviour is very much affected by emotional reasons.

The consensus here seems to be that YES, elite status IS that important! And the most important reason for getting it is the UPGRADE! Even with our miles, most of us use them for upgrades, and not for Coach/Economy tickets. Even when we use our miles for tickets, it's usually for International Bus. or FC, because international upgrades on discount tickets are nearly impossible to obtain. And, yes, like most of you, nothing cheers me more than to hear the GA asking me to step forward, just prior to boarding.

Most of my friends can't understand my strong desire to move to the front of the plane. They keep telling me, "The back of the plane arrives at the same time as the front" and "You're only on the plane for a few hours." Well, I do have to stop and think about my obsession. What am I getting so excited about? A marginally better meal on china? So, the seat is a bit wider, and you get comped $8-12 worth of drinks and a headset for movies that I rarely watch.

As a travel writer once wrote (might have been Randy...not sure), YES, when you're trapped in a steel cylinder, sitting bored to tears looking at nothing but clouds and
aisles of passengers, a meal DOES become the focus of your life, and takes on a far greater importance than it would under different circumstances.

A second factor, I believe, is the appallingly deteriorating conditions in Coach/Economy. When I started flying in the 60's, there wasn't such an obsession to get into FC. And back then FC tickets were only 20-30% more than a Coach ticket!

In order to compete for the "Price, Price, Price" discretionary passengers and the Steerage airlines (Laker, People Express, and Southwest), the majors have packed more and more seats into the back of the plane, and reduced the ratio of FA's to passengers.

Yes, the flight may only be a few hours long, but that's a long time if you're in misery the entire time. Sitting in a seat designed for an anorexic jockey, you're too cramped and uncomfortable to get any work done, or even to read your favorite book or magazine. On a recent flight, my glasses dropped to the floor. Just how cramped we were was impressed on me when I couldn't even reach to the floor to pick them up, no matter how hard I tried! I actually had to ask another pax to pick them up for me!

Looking out at an endless sea of clouds, you wait for the highlight of your flight...the meal. When the FA finally gets to your seat, after already serving the 250 pax before you, s/he hands you a "meal" that would cause college dorm residents to riot. Then you have the fun of trying to eat it, without your elbows banging into the pax next to you (or vice versa). And, yes, more and more frequently today, there is a pax next to you...so close that you might think you came out of the womb with that person! And that pax is invariably a 400 pounder, or someone's kid who's doing a Sir Edmund Hillary imitation in his seat!

Upon deplaning, you swear that getting that Elite card is going to be your highest priority in life, so that you NEVER, EVER have to endure the cattle car again!

I don't believe that most of us are looking for the upgrade for "status" so much as for comfort and a minimal degree of service. It's not that Bus. and FC are so great...it's that Coach/Economy IS SO BAD!!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mad.gif

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"An upgrade, an upgrade! My kingdom for an upgrade!"

The difference between flying an 8 hr followed by a 15 hour flight in coach vs F is night an day especially when you are not able to take a shower at the connection airport and even take a nap in a quiet room. Basically in coach ones vaction starts when you get to your destinatiion and ends when you leave, in F (at least in BA F) you gain tow days of holidfay as the holiday starts when you get to the airport and when you get to your home airport on the return. I would never pay anywhere even close to 15K for an airfare but to earn those extra miles each flight to get the award ticket by being BA Gold (I am still a lowley blue tier myself)would seem more than worth it and indeed using mileage runs alone the difference in cost for a non elite and a BA gold for that $15k equivalent award ticket is $2k at a minimum.

Get a life? Got one, one upfront!

My main reason for going to the top of any program is the "upgrade". Sure there are other benefits, but the upgrade far outwieghs any other.

This applies not only to airlines, but to hotel and car rentals too. I've recently made the switch to the Hilton products from Marirott because their diamond program is simply better then Marriott.

My loyalty is for sale, for sale to the highest bidder, with the best amenities and service!