Here's how airlines cater to the elusive ultra elite

Before George Clooney made elite status sexy in Up in the Air, all but the biggest of miles geeks were left in the dark about how much the one-percenters of commercial flying traveled to get those shiny, ultra-exclusive loyalty cards, or even what kind of power came with the plastic.

Airlines try to keep their super elite status programs hush-hush, but members recently spilled juicy details to Fortune, and they have us regular Joes salivating.

So, first, how does one qualify to be the elite of the elite? A travel industry analyst told Fortune, you've got to spend something like $50,000 a year — and unlike, Clooney's character in Up in the Air leads us to believe, that doesn't necessarily mean flying everyday. Often the top elites are commuting via first class or buying $10,000 tickets to Asia.

There are also plenty of tricky requirements that make it difficult to join, like excluding partner flights from earning reward miles and even a minimum annual revenue.

And what do these programs offer? For starters, fliers often get access to their own personal airport agent to deal with any annoyances from rebooking to accommodation. Delta's Diamond Medallion offers free same-day changes between local airports and Porsches covering plane-to-plane connections at JFK, LAX and others. Meanwhile, United's Premier 1K allows same-day changes on international flights and Mercedes-Benz pickups.

For airlines, these services account to peanuts in the grand scheme of things: according to Fortune, Delta has stated publicly that five percent of its customers account for 26 percent of its total revenue.