I'm not making a judgment on the topic of this thread in any way, but I did want to comment on the excerpt above.

I see this statement made occasionally, and I'm always left scratching my head: what's the point of getting the status in the first place when you don't intend to enjoy its benefits?

What does AS need to do to entice you to stay with them? Is the shot at an upgrade to F (which WN doesn't have), guaranteed access to exit/bulkhead seating, 50% bonus on extremely valuable miles (much more so than WN, at least), priority handling on the phone, at ticket counters, in IRROPS, and the myriad other benefits of MVP status not enough? If not, then why did you shoot for MVP in the first place?

This isn't really directed at czpdx, as this is far from the first time I've heard this comment made. (Usually it takes the form of asking for some incentive beyond the top-tier level, such as extra RPUs/GPUs for every 25,000/50,000 miles after hitting 1K--different situation but same principle.) But it is something I've always wondered about when reading similar arguments.