FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Barcelona, London, on a plane
Programs: BA Silver, TK E+, AA PP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott LT Plat, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 13,048
I think it's per cycle.
It's certainly very generous to repeatedly pay the miles necessary for somebody else to have an Elite card when they aren't travelling enough to earn it organically...