I have only taken one "mileage run" to acquire platinum status, and I would defend such action based purely on economic factors.

If one is close enough to status that one last, $78 round-trip kicks them into platinum status, they receive:

1-Miles for the specific (wasted) flight that they took.
2-Bonus miles related to that flight.
3-A higher bonus the following year on ALL flights.
4-Higher % of being upgraded for the following year.

As far as the "get a life" comment goes; we do have lives. Those lives include ten hours a week in the germ tube in many cases. Sitting in first class in the germ tube makes this tolerable, and if one has to burn a flight here and there to nudge over for status on a specific airline, then so be it.

"Get a life" sounds like a little animosity from someone who is stuck in slave class and just does not like the chains binding them. In some cases taking a mileage run makes a heck of a lot of economic sense.