Originally Posted by
baliktad
My perspective changed similarly in the last year or so. If I put some thought into it, I could finish up MM in about 6-7 more years. But with the rate things have been changing around here, it's just not worth it. The odds are just too high that AS will yank the benefit, change their minds about awarding MM status, or impose some other ridiculous limitation (use funds within x days, max changes/$xx per year, etc.).
You are wise to have figured this out when you did. There's a whole lot of angry 1,000,000 BIS flyers over in the United forum who were promised "lifetime" Premier Executive status only to have United decide to cut their 100% mileage bonus to 50% and eliminate the two confirmed upgrades that were promised to them at the end of each year.
Ironically, AS has been looked at by many (including myself) as a good alternative to UA given one can get the same 50% mileage bonus as MVP and a 100% bonus as Gold. And for the same 1MM BIS on AS you could get a lifetime status that would give you a 100% mileage bonus (something that will soon require 3MM on UA.)
Of course, all of this is purely academic if the airline can't be trusted to keep its promises. It's too bad AS doesn't formalize their Million Mile benefit program a bit more to inspire some confidence that the benefits of a 10-15 year pursuit are worth the undertaking.