Obtaining elite status with an airline is a dream for most. Many people imagine elite flyers sipping cocktails in luxurious airport lounges, receiving exclusive customer service, getting priority boarding, and countless other perks. Sure, traveling is fun and exciting but these days it sure is time consuming. TravelNerd took a look inside the frequent flyer programs of major US carriers to figure out how much elite status is really worth.
When conducting this analysis, TravelNerd only considered the time spent in-flight, but please remember that there is a lot of time spent traveling to the airport, waiting at the airport, and leaving the airport that hasn’t been considered. So if you want to live up in the air, take a look at these figures.
UPDATE
January 23,2013: Delta has announced a change in their Skymiles Medallion Program. Frequent flyers will have to spend $12,500 IN ADDITION TO the 125,000 MQMs to achieve Diamond status. See full story here: Delta’s New Skymiles Medallion Program
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