Welcome to FlyerTalk and to the IB+ board, and with a nice informative post.

I'm one of those people that get Oro the hard way, with many economy trips and spending certainly more than € 3200 in the process, since my work travel is in Y and includes several transatlantic trips each year. My strategy is to see where I am near the end of the qualifying year and then if necessary I book a weekend trip in AA First to somewhere cheap and with the necessary number of stops (a trip I would have taken anyway, but in Y).

I personally think paying for J is a waste (unless there's some crazy sale) and normally I go for the cheapest fares, but I appreciate the perks of IB+ Oro, which I can get with a personal extra spending of about € 150. This is more than worth it for the Main Cabin Extra seats, better customer service and lounges, plus the extra avios.

As an expat, even IB+ Plata was very good for me when I had it for the extra luggage alone.