Yes, you are alone. Or at least, I don't agree I think people should have to earn status. And for many flights, 1 paid biz will get you awfully close. For instance, SFO-DTW-AMS will net you roughly 18k EQM in Biz. Take a transcon in P/F/Y/B and there you go, you're at silver. Not that hard... certainly I don't think a single flight should "entitle" you to elite status (unless that single flight happens to be SFO-AMS-CPT in J/C/Z/Y/B, in which case knock yourself out... heck, even with only 100% EQM you're at roughly 24k eqm...)