Just remember that the lifetime MVP Gold for 1 million miles on AS is BIS miles and doesn't include the 100% MVP Gold bonuses. Lifetime Gold on AA comes at 1 million miles from any and all sources, including bonus miles, credit cards, flowers, hotel stays, everything. 1 million BIS miles on AS is extremely tough to get
Fair enough, but the poster was talking about people who were really heavy fliers on Alaska as a super-elite, not just "casual" 40K a year MVP Golds.
FWIW, 40,000 JUST on Alaska going up and down the West Coast, SEA to Bay Area/PHX/LAX/SAN/LAS is one and a half to two trips a month (roundtrip being 1500 to just under 2000 miles). If you throw in some transcons and midcons it's less, but still... the AVERAGE person flies something like 3,000 a year or so.
My feeling is 50,000 FF mile bonuses every year are a pretty decent benefit.