MrWorldwide, as someone who's striving to earn the 3MM for lifetime 1K, I agree that earning lifetime status with actual flight miles is hard. It doesn't seem fair, especially if you're paying a lot for premium cabins with higher costs per mile.

A reasonable person would just take fewer flights and pay for premium cabins without worrying about lifetime status, not build a spreadsheet that optimizes mileage-run options using dollars and PlusPoints...not that I know anyone who does that...