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.
Or use the money to buy the miles when they have a sale. $6k will get you 2 R/T tickets on partners in F/J.
Originally Posted by
VegasGambler
If you're not interested in flying AS domestically, then buying the business class flights you want is how you qualify for MVPG. It's not a choice between the two.
Unless the cheapest J flights aren't on AS partners. You can usually find some very good fares on airlines like Xiamen or Air Canada for ~$2k to Asia. TAP/TK/AF/QR to Europe and the ME for $2.5k. These would all present better options, in my opinion, than paying for a flight to get MVPG+ status just to get 100% more miles, which wastes time and money which I value quite highly. Then you make yourself more captive to finding AS partners to get the 100% bonus you just spent money on to earn. But again to each their own, and I understand the thought, just one thing to go from 0-100% to get a small additional bonus, versus actually using the other benefits flying organically.