I am curious if most top tier elite would make it to their current level if there were no bonuses.
Would you make 1K for example if it was based only on miles flown, no Class of Service bonus, no bonuses for elite level, no CC or other programs for attaining miles?
I think I might just make it by years end instead of Making it by mid August each year.

I don't know about other programs, but with the ones I belong to, class of service bonuses don't count towards elite status... so it's all BIS miles.

UA is all BIS. The 1P bonus is 100% which is nice but doesn't count towards status.

UA is not all BIS when it comes to elite qualification. They give a 50 % EQM/EQS bonus to tickets bought in First (F,A,P), Business (C,D,Z) and full fare Economy (Y&B).

AA has BIS miles for mile category and bonus points to point category. So you can qualify by miles, points or segments. I would qualify on miles the last few years by July or August.

You are both confusing class of service EQM bonuses with status bonuses.

Meriem - I don't know all the programs you belong to, but FB, like most programs, award a higher number of miles toward status when you fly on First or Business rather than coach. In Fact, FB is more generous than most US programs, allowing one to earn 200% and even 300% on some premium fares.
mjo768 - UA gave me nearly 150K EQM last year even though I flew little more than 100K miles on them. This is because I flew mostly business class fares. These earn EQM at 1.5X on UA.

Almost all FF programs, both US and international, award more status miles for premium fares than coach. Many also award more status miles for full fare coach than other coach fares. In general, US programs only provide for up to 150-% earning whereas the major European programs tend to allow up to 200% or 300% on certain premium fares.

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OP - Yes, I would have re qualified in the same programs last year without bonuses as I did with them. However, this isn't true every year as sometimes I cut it quite close.

Same for me (in several programs), and even without bonuses through minimum mileage earning.

We've beaten the "BIS miles != EQM != RDM" to death here, but I think the question is still interesting. "How much value do you put on the elite RDM bonus?"

I'll say the 100% PLT bonus affects my decisions significantly. Taking that EQM is not in question, the 100% is enough to make me buy up to BA WT+, for the jump from 25%+25% to 110%+100%, on RDM valuation alone. That's as a leisure traveller that cheated for status though.

As AA GLD, I would not make that same decision.

I suspect the vast majority of top-tier elites would make their level without bonii, because I believe the vast majority of elites make their level by a substantial margin. As far as my qualifications, last year I would have been around 10K short without bonii, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have made my level without them. Being that close, I would have just bitten the bullet and flown a couple of MRs to make it. To paraphrase the BASF ads, bonus EQM don't make the level, they just make the level cheaper...

AA lets you qualify on miles flown (for which there is no elite bonus), segments flown (ditto) or points (which range from 0.5 to 1.5 times miles). I always qualify on miles, getting no benefit when I pay a high fare but also not losing (more often) when I pay a low one.

However, I now have lifetime mid-tier status. AA counts all miles for this, including bonuses, partners and the rest. I wouldn't have 2+ million lifetime miles without bonuses. I'm not even sure I'd have 1 million (lifetime Gold, first-tier) though I'd be close enough that I'd have to do some calculations to figure that out either way.

I know now that the "BIS miles != EQM != RDM" has been hammered home here indeed, but even with that, I have to admit I was confused when I saw last year that I was getting close to 100K miles when I knew I hadn't traveled nearly, well, 100K miles.

Frankly, I think the way UA's web site lists one's miles is just very confusing!

I only ever qualify with segments flown and my milage is miles off the qualifying level largely because of our all economy travel policy in Europe. It's actually quite funny that I am 10 segments away from requalifying, but my mileage balance is only at 30% of the required amount for requalifying.

It depends on the year. Last year I qualified for EXP on miles, so yes. In the 3 previous years, however, I qualified for EXP and 2 years of Platinum on points. So those years I would not have made the status levels.

Last several years I would not have qualified on UA as a 1K without the bonuses from business and Y/B fares.

Oops, you're absolutely right and I apologize.

I guess it goes to show that I mostly fly cattle class (or upgrade with miles)...

I probably would qualify for my main programs without bonuses, but with them I just start to credit my miles to a different one once I reach top tier. I guess without all the bonies I would be UA 1K and BA silver, while now I am UA 1K, BA Gold and AA Plat after a challenge.