Seems to me that there used to be International Upgrade coupons with Elite packets a few years back (or maybe they came with the quarterly "perk packs"). Either way, you had to be flying on a full fare coach ticket.

As for Alaska Airlines, even though I'm probably only going to use two of them (out of the 8 I received), I think they're a nice little bonus that the west-coast Elite travelers can use. Instead of being paper based, maybe they could be done "on-demand" by the Elite phone line or via computers.

And lastly, KLM inter-Europe upgrade certificates for NWA elites would be an amazingly awesome perk. Most KLM flights I've been on within Europe never seemed to have a full WBC section.