This article gave me the chuckles. While I've been an elite flier for several years now because of my ministry travels, we are not nearly the upper-crust, privileged few that this article makes us out to be. While the details of elite flying as reported below are true, the comedic, over-the-top tone got me laughing, as if eating bread with peanut butter is worthy of envy.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 
By Paul Eisenberg
Just who do these people think they are?
You know who I’m talking about. You see them at the airport sailing through special check-in and security lines, boarding before you, snagging prime overhead luggage space. And then there’s what you don’t see. Their free and automatic upgrades, dedicated hotlines and, get this: their bags are not only checked surcharge-free, but they’re also loaded on board last so they’re the first ones to hit the baggage carousel.
Who are these people?
They’re your airline’s elite status members. They fly a lot, year after year. The more they fly, the higher their rank and the better their perks. The problem for the rest of us is that even if you just started flying a lot, or take a few high mileage flights each year, elite status can be difficult to reach. And once you reach it, it can be hard to keep.
Fortunately, a few airlines offer various shortcuts to elite status – largely unpublished, undocumented shortcuts that the airlines will tell you about only if you ask them.