Originally Posted by nomiiiii

From the costs listed in this thread, it will take you anywhere from $4000-6000 to get elite mvp gold status (assuming you don't want to do cheap economy transcon runs). Why not just bank that money and use it to buy business class outright or bid for upgrades? Assuming a $500 each way bid on the longhaul or a typical $2000-3000 business class roundtrip flight with a good deal, you can easily get 4-6 oneway flatbeds across the pacific or atlantic.

Like, what's the value prop here if you're not interested in organic alaska flying giving you status organically to use/benefit on alaska itself. There might be some value on the margins, but overall its probably not worth it too much and just better to use the thousands of dollars to buy the flight you actually want.