mtbaker

Nearly all my travel has been personal. After the merger, my lifetime miles doubled to over 600K, and I quickly made 1MM a goal, since I felt it was reachable in a few years. I started making frequent mileage runs starting in 2013 (back in the good 'ol days when miles awarded were based on distance, not price). In the winter and fall, I spent many Saturdays traveling to nowhere, usually arriving back that night, but occasionally I flew far enough that it took a whole weekend. My partner and I also traveled quite a bit for fun, nearly all on United.

I enjoyed 1K status for several years and the GPUs earned allowed us to fly to Rio, Beijing, Sydney, Bali, and Thailand in BusinessFirst, in addition to several trips to Hawaii. I reached my goal in 2015, and while most people thought I was crazy, I really enjoyed it. Flying on Saturdays, I almost always flew in F, which of course made it more enjoyable.

I think the biggest benefit is E+ at booking (for me and my partner). Certainly hoping this benefit isn't devalued in the future.

My advice to you depends on how much you fly per year. I still think 1K is a pretty valuable status if you can achieve it - certainly worth focusing on one airline than say, having silver status on multiple airlines.