I don't know if this is old news or not ... =20 On a recent UA trip BOS-SFO-BOS, when I attempted to pre-board with what = the gate agent called "Global Service" members and I thought was Star = Alliance 1K, Premier Executive and Premier members I was turned away = with the response "You would know it if you were one." I did some = research online and found the article below from The New York Times. = Does anyone have any other details about any of these programs? I know = that NWA offers higher level status based on the tickets that you are = buying, but they don't mention it and I have no idea what the threshold = dollar figure is. I also know that it isn't reciprocal on other SkyTeam = carriers (little actually is) as I spent over $50k with NWA last year = and I'm only Gold Medallion. =20 =20 The New York Times May 10, 2005 =20 A Flier Status Elite Enough to Eclipse Mere Platinum By CHRISTOPHER ELLIOTT =20 On a recent flight from Denver to Las Vegas, Michael Silber was assigned = a dreaded middle seat in the back of the plane. But when Mr. Silber, an = executive with the Harman Consumer Group, an electronics company in = Woodbury, N.Y., checked in at the ticket counter, a United Airlines = employee not only upgraded him on the spot but apologized for the lapse. =20 "You should have never gotten that seat in the first place," the agent = whispered to him to avoid being overheard by other passengers. "You're = Global Services." His membership, she added, "means we like you a lot." =20 That may be something of an understatement. As the airline industry = struggles to recover from losses totaling $32.3 billion during the last = four years, it is pursuing its biggest spenders with a rare enthusiasm. =20 Global Services, which was quietly introduced in 2003, is perhaps the = largest of the new super-elite frequent-flier programs that airlines = reserve for the cr=E8me de la cr=E8me of their clientele. And regrets = for uncomfortable middle seats are the least of the benefits. =20 On United and on other airlines, members of the secretive, = invitation-only clubs are met at the airport by employees and whisked = past the check-in line. They wait for their flights in unmarked V.I.P. = lounges and are offered liberal upgrades and personalized attention by = airline employees. And at a time when airlines are obsessed with = improving their on-time records, it is not uncommon for a plane to be = held for a super-elite member who is stuck in traffic. =20 "Super-elites are the Skull and Bones of the sky," said the = frequent-flier expert Joel Widzer, referring to the blue-blood secret = society at Yale. "Don't bother asking how to join. If you qualify, = they'll let you know." =20 Becoming a member of this beyond-platinum club is "the most coveted = award" for the frequent traveler, according to Hal Brierley, a = loyalty-program consultant with Brierley & Partners in Dallas. He = estimates that fewer than one-tenth of 1 percent of elite-level fliers = hold super-elite status. But because the clubs are shrouded in such = mystery (none of the airlines contacted for this article would comment = on them), the actual figures remain a puzzle. "Sometimes, even program = members don't know they're in it," Mr. Brierley said. =20 American Airlines, the largest domestic carrier, claims it does not have = a beyond-platinum designation. But according to consultants and = loyalty-program experts, it informally tags selected elite-level = passengers for special treatment. Continental Airlines offers Chairman's = Circle status to a group of just 21 executives from companies whose = business is considered important to the airline. =20 Delta Air Lines, which phased out a super-elite program called the = Flying Colonel during the late 1990's, may be about to commission a = replacement. Just last month, it mailed letters to some of its top-level = frequent fliers promising to offer "unpublished incentives to select = Platinum Medallion members." (Platinum Medallion is its highest = published elite frequent-flier level.) =20 But the most formal, if not the best-known, of the super-elite programs = belongs to United Airlines. About 18,000 Global Services members are on = the books out of 10 million active Mileage Plus program members and 42 = million registered frequent fliers. Of the 18,000, roughly 10,000 made = the grade because they had spent at least $20,000 a year on United, = while about 8,000 got on the list in hopes the star treatment would = entice them and their companies to do more business with the airline. =20 When they make the cut, Global Services members are issued a black = Global Services card, a leather-bound welcome kit and phone numbers of = agents trained to see after their needs. Then the fun begins. The chosen = ones are escorted through the security line and ushered into secret = waiting lounges so concealed from the public that United executives = themselves have trouble finding them. They receive confirmed upgrades at = the time of booking (rather than having to wait until 100 hours before = the flight, a burden that highest published elite-level travelers, those = at the 1K level, must bear). Should they leave a jacket or cellphone = behind, they can ask the airline to have the item delivered to their = home by an airline employee. =20 United isn't the first company to issue a black card. American Express = introduced its Centurion card, which came to be known as the black card, = in 1999. Among the benefits are a concierge service, a personal travel = counselor, automatic elite-level memberships in airline, car rental and = hotel loyalty programs, and access to invitation-only events like = special concerts. And, like the super-elite status conferred by the = airlines, the American Express Card is granted to those deemed deserving = - never in response to a customer's request. =20 Beyond all the perks, the real bonus is "the 'Wow!' factor," according = to Mr. Brierley, the loyalty expert. "It's those times when you land in = a snowstorm in Denver, and your connecting flight is canceled," he said. = "There are long lines at the airport, and you'll probably be stuck = overnight. But when your plane arrives, there's an airline employee = holding a boarding pass for the next flight out - and you have a seat in = first class." =20 Some frequent travelers are skeptical about the new elite levels. = Vincent Petty, a law student at Stetson University in St. Petersburg, = Fla., and a Platinum Medallion-level member of Delta's SkyMiles = frequent-flier program, recently received a letter from the airline = promising new benefits that exceeded his elite level. "But things = haven't gotten any better," he said. "If anything, they are worse. I = wait for an upgrade, and even though I'm the only Platinum-level = passenger, the first-class seats go to the Silver Medallions who maybe = paid more for their tickets than I did. I don't see how a new program is = going to change that." =20 Airlines have always gone out of the way for certain passengers, = including celebrities and dignitaries. But the emergence of more = codified super-elite programs that are tied not only to social status, = but also to the amount of business a passenger gives an airline, has = left frequent-flier experts wondering if this represents the beginning = of a formal fourth level of frequent-flier program. =20 "In a psychological sense, there is a mechanism whereby one is always = looking to the next level," said Tim Winship, who edits the Web site = Frequentflier.com. "But in a practical sense, these super-elite programs = are not as much about rewards as they are about ego gratification." =20 Strictly speaking, none of the new super-elite clubs are traditional = rewards programs because they emphasize special services over tangible = benefits like first-class upgrades or award tickets. But at least one = program, Global Services, last year considered making its program public = and formally incorporating it into its Mileage Plus program. Some United = Airlines employees and consultants say the airline may make Global = Services official in 2006. =20 But that could create more problems than it solves. Mr. Winship notes = that the moment a super-elite program goes public, passengers will begin = looking for something better. (That is what happened in 1993, when the = 1K designation, once a secret program for top-tier fliers, was = declassified.) =20 United's current super-elite program, which now adds about 1,000 members = a year, would then grow at an even quicker pace, and could lose some of = its distinctiveness, perhaps forcing the airline to create a new elite = level. Indeed, the people involved in awarding club memberships find = that the most difficult part is not determining who is in, but deciding = who is out. "How do you tell someone you're not in the club anymore?" = Mr. Brierley asked. =20 In the case of Mr. Silber, the electronics company executive, you do not = bother. Just before taking a recent trip to China, he phoned United to = ask for an upgrade. While he was talking with a representative, he = inquired about his Global Services status. "I was told that I'm not a = Global Services member any longer," he said. "The representative I spoke = with suggested that I write the airline to find out what was up. So now = I have a black card, and all my reservations show that I'm a member of = Global Services, but I'm not. It's kind of weird."