I'll just say that as a member of the AS forum, we regularly have FTers go to AS MVP Gold Lunches (where elites are invited to nosh with AS employees in various cities across the AS network, both informally and sometimes with formal presentation and Q&A).

Those events aren't held off the record (as AS views these lunches and their FT presence as a communication tool to reach ALL of their elites through a variety of channels, not simply to segregate into attendees who get the scoop, and not attending who don't) and FTers who can't attend are typically quite grateful when those who do attend share what they learn at the events (yo can search in the forum and find a lot of notes taken by people at the events. Perhaps that would be something to keep in mind as EK deepens their involvement on FT. (The AS forum also has a pretty decent amount of AS employees involved in FT.)