Have Elite Fliers Been Downgraded? A STEADY rain was soaking the windows of La Guardia Airport when Nancy Thode, an elite frequent flier with Delta Air Lines, approached a gate agent with a pressing question: Had her request for an upgrade cleared? Glancing at her computer, brow furrowed, the agent was not encouraging: "You are No. But with a nearby video monitor showing that more than half of the 26 first-class seats were already claimed, Ms. Thode knew her chances were slim. "If somebody comes - diamond, platinum or gold," the gate agent pointed out, "they're going to get it." Minutes later, Rick Triana, a business traveler, strode up, the word "diamond" emblazoned in capital letters on the tag attached to his Victorinox wheelie-bag. Despite seeing his name at the top of the upgrade list, he confirmed his spot with an agent anyway, lingering around afterward to make sure he wouldn't be bumped. "You never know," he said. As the boarding time neared for the Atlanta-bound flight, the upgrade list began to shrink. Mr. Triana was upgraded to first class. So was a gold-level flier (though his wife was not). Ms. Thode, a social worker from Stamford, Conn., dispatched a friend she was traveling with to check on her status. Bad news. "I get knocked off for the diamonds," she sighed. Silver just doesn't make it. Elite status in an airline loyalty program used to be something of an exclusive club, rewarding those who flew the most - typically between 25,000 and 125,000 miles a year, depending on the carrier - with perks and sought-after upgrades into business or first class. These days, though, the advantages of being an elite flier are harder to gauge. The private lounges are more crowded, the priority check-in lines longer. And on some flights there are so many elites that it's become almost a joke: "Never go to check-in at the elite line; it's way too long," said Randy Petersen, the founder of frequent flier Web sites like FlyerTalk.com and MilePoint.com. What's happened? A few things. As the airline industry has merged and shrunk over the years in order to survive, fewer seats on many routes mean scarcer upgrades for top-tier fliers. Meanwhile, the number of travelers with some sort of elite status has grown. Elite fliers are so concentrated on some flights, like San Francisco to New York or Chicago, Mr. Petersen said, that "when they call early boarding, for 196 people on a plane, only 18 people will stay seated." But it's not only that there are more elites these days; it's also that non-elites can now buy those once-reserved perks à la carte. Don't want to wait in line at security? Pay for the express line. How about airline lounge access? That'll be $50 for a day pass, or the right credit card will get you in for free. Even upgrades are for sale, if seats are available. While all this may be good news for travelers who fly just once or twice a year, elite frequent fliers say that the moves have been eating away at the cachet and precious privileges that come with elite status. "It's certainly degraded the experience," said Tom Majewski, an investment banker from Darien, Conn., who flies about 100,000 miles a year and is an elite flier with both Delta and American Airlines. For a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in November, he showed up with his family at the Delta Sky Club at La Guardia, which like other Delta lounges is accessible to frequent fliers at a discounted membership rate tied to their status, as well as to anyone with a platinum or Delta Reserve credit card from American Express. "There was not a seat to be had," he said. It was jam-packed. So the family loaded up on free snack mix and sat out by the gate, where there were still open seats. His big beef, however, is not how crowded the lounges are, but the difficulty in getting upgrades, especially on international flights and popular business routes like New York to Los Angeles. "Slowly but surely they're scaling back the best frequent-traveler benefits," he said. Airlines maintain that even though they've begun to offer frequent-flier perks for sale, elites are their priority. While credit-card holders and those who pay for priority boarding can be seated ahead of the masses, that group is called to board after top-tier fliers. As for purchased upgrades, they're generally offered only after they've been made available free to elite members.