"almost unlimited upgrades on international flights (have been upgraded on all but 2 flights in last 6 years"

I was only referring to the airline of my ff program that I am top tier in (Air Canada). I fly almost exclusively on Air Canada internationally. The upgrade certificate availability (get 8 to start with and used to get 2 certs every 10k status miles, now every 15k status miles) means I never run out so was able to upgrade (on all but 2 segments in 6 years) virtually every flight. This is a benefit of top tier elite status over middle or low tier status.

I have also been operationally upgraded on LH but I will typically use other means (e.g. miles in my Lufthansa account) for other Star Alliance carriers. My main point was about benefit of being top tier in airline x and how airline x will treat you.

I would agree that the difference is diminishing for my "normal" trips. I frequent mostly airports that don't have elite-only security, and most of the time there are no lines for the check-in kiosks, so even if a non-elite wants to check a bag, he/she can generally do so without too much trouble. And since I book exclusively online, my phone calls to customer service are rare. To give credit to the airlines: the kiosks, when I've used them, generally seem to work as designed, which is nice.

The big difference is still there when irregular ops occur. That is when even lowly AA Gold is worth it's weight in....Gold. :) Particularly when the irregular ops occur in ORD or DFW and the whole world is trying to change flights either on the phone or at check-in.

No, he's flying nonstop on HP, vs. a connection via SLC on DL, I presume. The problem is that he may have orphan miles on HP. If one sticks to a single carrier, you can accumulate enough miles for a premium cabin trip to a far away exotic location every year.

Brings major brownie points with the Mrs. every year! :D

In my case, the Mrs. has half a million Delta Miles and 200K UA miles. She's doing fine on her own!

Hate to break the news to you but Delta gives lifetime Silver Elite to one million milers, Gold Elite to two million milers and Platinum Elite to four million milers.

Don

Yeah, but Delta sucks :p