This article only talks about what airlines in other countries (which may not have had status without flying before?) have done recently, but totally misses the fact that in the USA (where frequent flyer programs originated) many of the airlines originally had ways to earn lifetime elite status without flying, and one by one they got rid of that (AA was by far the last in Dec 2011). So IMHO the trend in the USA has been quite the opposite, and it's unclear if it will reverse here just because countries with less history of earning status without flying have added it recently.

Meanwhile, some of these examples given are in countries where you can't get lounge access through a credit card, like you can in the USA, both with airline lounges through certain airline credit cards, and independent lounges through certain non-airline travel credit cards (offering Priority Pass, Lounge Buddy, etc). Same with baggage allowances. So the USA pattern in to give certain status-like benefits through certain cards, not through how many miles your earn. It's still without flying, but in a different way.