I had my 4 but 1 or 2 was outside the ticketing date. So, I will probably "lose" 15,000 miles which I should not have gotten in the first place.

I might have changed my travel plan a little to make sure I qualify for 4 under the published rule. However, at these high fares and relative little gain (15,000 miles is not a lot), I would not have done extra trips to qualify.