LexPax and I just bought tix LEX-ATH which should put us over the top for PM next year. When we factored in the CRC memberships we currently pay for, we decided it was worth it. Means a long trip in steerage, but we figure it will repay us next year.
FWIW, as Golds, we have about an 85% upgrade rate, maybe a little better. We've never had to buy 800MSUs, although I have run mine down to the last one or two now and then. But besides the CRC m'ships, we decided to go for Platinum based on being able to upgrade many of our flights at time of ticket purchase. We don't much care for the upgrade lottery, and hope that we'll have to play it a lot less frequently as PMs.
Andymo - we also looked at IST and Japan for our "status run". NRT, for instance, gave us each about 58,000 miles on a $680 ticket. Finally decided that if we only had 3.5 days at our destination, we'd go somewhere we were at least somewhat familiar with, to minimize familiarization time.
I'm undecided about just buying the tix and not flying. Guess the answer is, Sure, if it's just us and our FT friends who can do it! ;-> Actually, we went to ATH a couple of years ago in coach, and lucked out. We flew through ATL, and the plane was practically empty. The food was good - the only "negative" was that I got to yakking with one of the FAs, and got a lot less sleep in my 5 seat across "bed" than I'd been planning on. I don't expect such a nice flight again, but one can always hope.