That's not how it read to me - the OP can correct my interpretation, but it read to me like the OP thought they were required to pay the fee to upgrade to F and did not have the option of waiting for a complimentary upgrade.

Outside the FT community that knows better, I have a funny feeling that a number of these transactions are being completed by ignorant Elites who don't have a clue and might think the program terms have changed and they must pay for the upgrade now. If so, I'm fairly certain that was a deliberate part of this scheme - to take advantage of customer ignorance.