I have to disagree with all of this. For most of us, paying cash for F/J is not an option, nor can it be considered affordable. Generally, F is >2x more for longer US domestic flights. Long-haul international J is >3x more (at least TPAC, since that's what I'm familiar with).

Also, benefits of hotel status are many. Take Hilton Gold for instance. Free breakfast (to variable degree), room upgrade (esp in Asia), earn more points per stay, late check-out.

I think that the dollar level of the premium cabin fare matters more than the fare difference with economy in terms of determining affordability. Using ITA Matrix and looking at ORD<>HKG in April I see J cabin short connection flights on China Eastern for USD 2,690. On SFO<>NRT in February I see J cabin short connection flights on Korean Air for USD 3,940. These fares are not trivial, but they are affordable to people with incomes in the normal range for hard working and ambitious professionals, and who prefer premium cabin air travel to other luxuries.

Looking at flights from ORD<>IAH in January I see non-stop flights at USD 435. SFO<>NYC in April can be had with a short stop for USD 1,019. These fares are more expensive than those valid for travel in the Y cabin, but most leisure travellers would not be taking flights like this that often and I am sure that many would be able (even if not actually prepared) to pay at this kind of level two or three times a year.

In today's world, Y cabin air fares are often so incredibly cheap that they make discounted J cabin fares, which more accurately reflect what people paid for Y cabin air travel in the past, look expensive. In fact J cabin fares are probably cheaper than they have ever been compared to middle class incomes. 30 years ago the people who lived on my street were sufficiently well off that they could afford to travel longhaul in Y. Now the people who live on my street are sufficiently well off that they can afford to travel longhaul in J. Same people, different times.



Those are good to know about thank you.

The free breakfast from Hilton Gold is worth its weight for me. Spending 30 nights or so on the road each year, and staying about half of those nights at properties where breakfast is not included in the room rate, getting a $10-$15 breakfast comped is a big deal and worth way more than the $95 I pay for my Hilton credit card that comps Gold for me.

Looking forward to the Hilton Aspire card and get free Diamond, then I can save on dinner too by chowing down in the Executive Lounge (which for me, the appetizers can easily make a quick meal). I suppose at my volume of travel, I easily blow through all the amenities and perks these premium cards offer

Be glad of losing status - it means you get a lot of time back in your life. Back when I had higher status (I've been UA silver at most for the past few years, and general member this past year, highest I ever made was Premier Exec) it became clear that most of the "perks" of status are really just to make the whole experience less unpleasant, and that not flying at all (or at least flying a lot less) is a whole lot more pleasant. Even in F, I'm still in a big metal tube for a long time, rather than laying on a chaise lounge in the sun in my backyard, or out riding a bike in the mountains.

Now I buy E+ if I want more legroom, and I'll buy up to first if I'm on my third round trip transcon in 3 weeks or some other unpleasantness, but it's nice to be home and not trying to sort out time zone changes. Having a few appropriate credit cards resolves the boarding order and overhead space issues.

That happened to me a few years ago. It doesn't bother me. The airlines keep on getting worse and it's just not worth the effort to keep status. I just stay away from BE and am happy to be free to pick any carrier that fits my comfort and schedule the best.

Some hotel statuses give you airline status as well (Marriott gives you United, SPG gives you many benefits)

Goes the other way too.

But sometimes you LOL at check-in for 3 pax travelling together. I'm Diamond with Hilton through nights for many years, first to check-in, greeted and thanked for loyalty etc. #2 has Diamond through BA Gold, and bragged about only staying 2-3 Hilton family nights yearly, when we transited from the airport, got the same treatment, FD associate explicitly underlining the brand loyalty. # 3 just down to Gold two years ago, very briefly greeted and thanked, although he's been clocking 23 nights last year, and already 9 months into present qualification year was to mark the 27th .

priority / VIP is a lot less than J
deals and buying miles can make J = Y
i do accommodations rather than J
i see more incremental value in VIP vs J

im not sure when using "afford" figuratively became so common
many could choose to spend more on less travel, some of us do that
a few have spent way less total, but have spent way more per night

breakfast (etc) often does not require status
some dont value benefits, even not requiring status
limiting choice to status companies can be overly limiting

Re: OP. Well, I made good on giving the legacies much less business now that they give so few RDMs on lower fares that airlines like Frontier arguably have more-generous programs now. So I haven't been in many apples-to-apples situations where I get the pauper treatment from them.

OTOH, status definitely means something different on an airline like Frontier, where the "perks" mostly bring you up to the service level on legacies, though you do get to board with the pre-boards IF the GA remembers that that's the procedure. There's also no first class, though the "stretch" seats DO save your knees.

I don't HAVE to have all the perks I used to get and some, like the free booze, would be very bad for me at this point anyway.

OTOH I DO find that the typical flying experience these days is pretty bad and that certain buffers are useful and helpful to reduce the stress and keep the inexperienced travelers from having to suffer from mistakes or general faux-pas from the inexperienced ones.

The TSA Pre-Check, for example, is becoming almost a must to jump the long lines from people who overpacked and don't know the rules there. Early boarding is important mainly to avoid the bin battles, even when you didn't bring too much but others did (this is less a factor, BTW, on airlines like Frontier and Spirit that charge for carry-ons).

Being able to pre-select an exit row seat for free means you won't get kids next to you, though sometimes large individuals try to seat there thinking it helps with width when it only helps with height (immovable armrests discourage some of this, though). You also *might* avoid the families in the front rows with seats that have to be paid for if you don't have status, but there's no guarantee.

The inexperienced travelers are often none the wiser about what a cattle-car experience it is and how it's so much worse than 30-40 years ago and how they contribute to that, so it's really BECAUSE of all your experience that you can notice all that stuff and want to prevent or avoid it.

18 year consultant here. I wouldn't worry about losing status. You forget that you won't be traveling every week so the loss isn't going to be as painful. Once you free yourself from your program you can focus on looking for the best deals. There are plenty of reasonably priced F/J tickets out there. I so rarely get upgraded via status these days especially on consultant heavy routes where the upgrade list will frequently have 60 people on the list for 8 seats. Most of my leisure travel is planned in advance and I just buy the F/J ticket. As others have said mid-tier hotel status is pretty easy to get with credit cards. When planning leisure travel see if applying for the card and paying the annual fee will generate enough value to cover the fee.

I have. I just pay into first class now. You can also buy a lot of the benefits even in coach. There's also various ways to avoid the main security line. That's really the biggest benefit that you'll miss except for maybe nice rental car upgrades.