I don't see how there would be any harm in it, since the group still needs to be good enough to handle Elite, and if not they shouldn't be going in there yet anyways. But if they can they still have to waste time with Hard and Normal if not a VIP. Sure you can get in anyways with someone to unlock it, but you'll probably be waiting longer for that than you would to do it on Hard then Elite.

The main reason people would bother is favor, and how much is that worth nowadays? Exactly.