I got the welcome email with a new account ('cept I am MVPG and both VX and AS accounts have the same email AND the same Trusted Traveler/TSA Pre√ ID in them, so whoops).
I linked up Elevate and my existing account, transferred into AS (wasn't going to use the ~2200 Elevate points, but I can use the ~2850 AS miles pretty soon), have gotten the 10k bonus. A nice boost towards a future CX or JL F award.
Oh, look, here we are on day three of the week mentioned in the FAQ, and the "starting January 9" mentioned in the FAQ in December. As far as I am concerned... no deadline blown and it worked out OK for me, if not ideally done (even though they didn't match my account correctly, it was easy to match it for them and transfer). YMMV.