Here’s a post from welltraveled88 at Flyertalk.com that I found neat… being a traveler, it can be useful for anyone who wants to commit to a single program and get lifetime elite status…

Sky Team (to attain ST Elite Plus status)

* Air France KLM AF/KL: Lifetime Platinum after 10 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level
* Delta Airlines DL: Lifetime Platinum after 4M “Medallion Qualifying Miles”, i.e. from any ST flights
* Korean Air KE: Lifetime Million Miler after 1M miles on any ST flights

Star Alliance (to attain *A Gold status)
* Air China CA: Lifetime Platinum after 1M kms on CA-coded flights only
* Egypt Air MS: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on MS flights (or all *A flights ??)
* Asiana Airlines OZ: Lifetime Platinum after 1M miles on Star Alliance flights
* South Africa Airways SA: Lifetime Platinum after 6 consecutive years of membership at the Platinum level
* United Airlines: Lifetime Premier Executive after 1 million miles on UA or CM only

One World (to attain OW Sapphire status)
* American Airlines: Lifetime Platinum after 2M miles from any source [However, NB: as AA Platinum, you get no lounge access in AA lounges when travelling on AA domestically, while you would get access as OW Sapphire with another airline