How hard are the top levels of various frequent flyer programs to reach?

Taking the reviews from
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/rat...ws/program.php

and comparing the programs which have their own forums here

Aeroplan Super Elite - 100 000 miles/yeas
Flying Blue Platinum - 70 000 or 90 000 miles/year
Air NZ has air points. Gold Elite - 1500 dollars/year
Airtran A+ rewards has Base Credits. Elite - 50 base credits/year
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan has MVP Gold - 40 000 miles/year
ANA Mileage Club Diamond Service - 100 000 miles/year
American Aadvantage Executive Platinum - 100 000 miles/year
Asiana Bonus Club has longer qualification periods... requalification is 3 years. Highest level seems to be Diamond, Platinum Club looks like lifetime level.
bmi diamond club Gold - 38 000 miles/year
BA EC has tier points. Gold - 1500 or 800 tier points/year.
CX Asia miles Diamond - 120 000 miles/year
Continental OnePass Platinum - 75 000 miles/year
Delta SkyMiles Platinum - 75 000 miles/year
El Al Matmid has points. Platinum - 5000 points/year
Emirates Skywards Gold - 50 000 miles/year
JAL Mileage Bank Diamond - 100 000 miles/year
Korean Air Skypass Morning Calm - 50 000 miles/year. The higher levels are lifetime only.
Lufthansa Miles & More HON Circle - 600 000 miles in 2 years
Midwest Miles Executive - 20 000 miles/year
Northwest Worldperks Platinum Elite - 75 000 miles/year
Qantas Frequent Flyer has Status Credits. Platinum - 1400 credits/year.
SAS Eurobonus Gold - 55 000 to 100 000 miles/year
Singapore PPS Club - 50 000 miles/year, in business or first only
Thai ROP Gold - 50 000 miles/year
United Mileage Plus Premier Executive 1K - 100 000 miles/year
US Dividend Miles Chairman�s Preferred - 100 000 miles/year
Varig Smiles Diamond - 100 000 miles/year
Virgin Flying Club has tier points. Gold - 40 points/year.

Any recent changes? Plus, there is probably plenty of details about how class bonuses and segments count.

Regarding AA, the program with which I am the most famliar, one can also earn EXP on "points" with as little as 66,667 miles if one always pays full Y or higher, or even 50,000 miles by flying 100 short segments. The article says this, but it's important for a side-by-side comparison.

Also, some of the information in the referenced article is out of date. For example, it says "All elite members get four upgrades for every 10,000 qualifying base miles earned. One upgrade is required for every 500 miles." Executive Platinum members stopped getting these well before the October 2006 date of the review. Instead, they receive space-available upgrades from any fare, ahead of other elites who have to use these credits. (The downside is that they no longer earn credits they can use to upgrade a travel companion.)

But many articles do not say. Starting with AC Aeroplan - class bonuses exist (25 and 50 % under a confusing scheme), but do they count for elite status?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=662840

Yup - lots of variation in how those count or not for status qualification. Don't forget minimum mileage varies from non-existant to very generous. And requalification is easier on some programs (lower threshold and/or higher status bonus counting to requalification).

Agreed. And to further muddy the waters, AAirpass holders flying with and paying for a companion to travel can achieve EXP with as little as 33,334 paid flown miles in full Y or higher, since the AAirpass holder is credited with the qualifying points/miles of a companion (if purchased on the same AAirpass).

Please follow this thread in our MilesBuzz forum. Ocn Vw 1K, CoMod, Travel Buzz.

Actually, United's highest level is Global Services. It's an invitation only level for United's Best/Highest yield customers and people who make big travel decisions.

UGS is not a part of Mileage Plus program and thus 1K is the top dog in MP. That being said, GS eats 1Ks for lunch (or so I've heard).

I guess that really depends. If by not part of Mileage Plus you mean you can't earn it by flying X miles, you are correct. But, it is taken into account by United in terms of Upgrades, irrops, etc. I would say that it is de facto the top tier of United's "frequent flyer scheme." In fact, my 1K packet came with the GS materials this year, so your statement may actually be incorrect as of today since UA gives out so little info on UGS. Also, you can requalify for UGS by flying 50k full fare BISM.