Then, later in the year, I redeemed 75,000mi per person for a round trip in Etihad Apartments to the Maldives ^_^ Both the earn and the burn side can be a great time.
Going back to Hong Kong later in the year, paid $2200 for a round trip business class ticket on AA from DFW-HKG, upgraded to first and thanks to 3 stacked promos, earn 70,000mi and that round trip alone gets me 1/3 of the way to EXP status for next year.
Nobody ever stopped an avalanche by targeting individual snowflakes.
Turns out it's supposed to be there.
Why?
There are other benefits, too. Ones that matter to me: priority boarding is great on busy routes, because it means there will definitely be room for your carry-on luggage. And on United, higher tiers get automatic access to a few more inches of legroom in economy, which is great if you're tall. And you get lounge access on international flights, which mostly means that I can take a shower upon arrival when I fly overnight to Europe.
[1] Airlines are now adding a dollar component to it, as discussed elsewhere in this thread, which roughly works out to "the cost of 25k miles' worth of regular-ish fare tickets"
I talked to someone about it, and basically the airlines all assume you booked purely on price, so have no incentive to treat you nicely, since if the next time you search, if they are $50 more than the competition you will book with the competition regardless of how you are treated. If you have FF status, then the equation is different.
I don't think people value this enough, I have really appreciated this in the past. For example, on a MEL to LAX flight, our 787 had mechanical issues and the flight was cancelled. As the 270 passengers lined up in front of the two customer service agents, I had a mere 15 minute wait in the priority line and was able to get booked on another airline.
Not to mention, if you show up to the airport early, they'll re-book you on an earlier flight at no charge (assuming available seats).
One example off the top of my head: when I had status, if I had an issue, I could call a phone number and a representative would answer after a single ring. Shortly after I lost my status, a snowstorm complicated some of my travel... I was on hold for a few hours in the general queue.
Free bags, priority boarding, lounge access on layovers, free upgrades... Each one of these things isn't a big deal, but when you're on a plane three or four times a month, it really helps you cope.
As far as the lounge access, that wasn't given to me because I just reached as high as gold. Although it was provided when I did an international trip.
I also did it to get the gold desk when an issue arose or that there was likely to have an issue arise. (I.e. you get an email notification of a delay in flight more than 5 hours before.. better switch flights)
They either have an automated system which will cancel the booking (typically within 24 hrs). Or they have altered their loyalty system to give diminished returns for "pointless" stop-overs.
I'm a United Global Service (which is based on spend, not miles, ~$80K/year gets you that) from business travel that's paid for by my clients, but for other airlines (AA) if I'm on the border of making "status" I will do a mileage run if I can.