Originally Posted by ijgordon

Well, you left out a few scenarios:
If your anything but top-tier on AA, then you wouldn't be "accustomed to...SWUs" and you'd be forking over miles + $350 regardless of fare (except the most expensive fares). That may be better or worse than CO depending on the fare you're buying.

If you're used to only being able to upgrade the most expensive fares (a la DL/NW and UA?), then no, it's not really a rip-off.

But in any event, that BusinessFirst ticket costs minimum $2,000, a more likely price is $3-5k. So not sure how the mileage upgrade translates into being a rip-off.