As someone who has done MRs over the past two years to NRT and LHR to re-qualify for Elite, and for whom the SSWU's were the main reason to go through this additional expense, I will certainly not be planning any MRs this year.

Unless I end up flying much more than in past years, I don't expect to re-qualify, but will instead spend some of those $$ for a "lounge card" of some kind or other.

I envy those folks that can do a few international flights a year to hit Elite or Super-Elite - traveling for business only in NA (and that also most of the time short-haul) and that to at best on T+ usually makes for a challenging "climb" to achieve status.