AS is stingy on the DEQM (shortest period last year of any airline that did DEQM in 1H 09, NO DEQM in 2H 09), doesn't award status for non-BIS activity (*cough*DeltaAmex*cough*), and doesn't allow for EQM rollover.

The one thing that MIGHT inflate ranks a bit is if you figure that MVPG has ~30K MP members, and 75K is supposed to be the top 10% of that... at most, the MVP ranks swell by 3K if EVERY 75K uses their nomination benefit (they won't)- but if it's done for someone who travels infrequently, it won't cause a lot of competition for U space.

All told, I suspect AS is in good shape with respect to "elite inflation". I feel bad for the UA 1Ps and DL GMs (comparable levels to MVPG). They're screwed.