I’ve always been amazed how frequent fliers will coerce people live on the road to get hotel/airline status.

I’ve been platinum exec before and I’ve also earned gold the hard way by flying 30 392 mile segments for a whopping 13,000 points.

I like the status but not willing to sacrifice my life for it anymore.

I used to be a heavy Delta/United flyer.

In 2014, I booked A British Air non-redeye from JFK-LHR. Immediately after booking, American granted me platinum status. That was a wise move. I travelled to 3 continents after that flight and did not shy from AA/AA partners flying Qantas/JAL/BA and others.

I found the AA points to be more valuable and more usable even near to time of travel whereas my DL points have gradually become harder to get a good value to anywhere at anytime no matter how far in advance I book.