AA offers gold for $395 aand plat for $595 if you previously qualified. And UA just offered to double your miles for $100, which means you can basically qualify for half the normal requirement. CO has also offered to increase your miles by x% upon payment of a fee the last 2 years.

So in some sense, status can in fact be purchased. IMO, AA is the smartest of the bunch because it collects the money but doesn't even provide a seat in return.