Yes, it is a real pain to join. And not many benefits unless you spend a lot.

There is a guaranteed discount after you spend 20k. But there are occasional discounts for anyone in the program. If you buy business class or flexible fares, then you may find it worthwhile. Otherwise, if you spend less than $20k a year, it is totally worthless.

I'm not sure if they are still running it, but there was a promotion where if you spent and flew $2k in flights in the first 2 months (I think), you got two free pilot VA Gold programs. I thought that was worth it, so I waited to apply until I was ready to purchase and fly. But the application process was so long that I ended up having the buy the flights before I was approved anyway. So I missed out on that too.