Sure - feel free to question a CO Platinum who's been on FT for 10 years. Call me crazy, but I find it hard to doubt his story (as it seems to be replicated daily on FT). It's nothing out of the ordinary - and he gives a rich amount of details actually (different dates, routes, dollar amounts, etc). But you go ahead and deny it if you want.

It's great that with your advanced tools, you can dig into the minutae of non-stop versus connecting flights, multiple fares in the same bucket, buy-ups to different fare classes depending on status level, etc.

But for the 99.99% of travelers who don't have the time, inclination, and access, they call a spade a spade and wonder why CO acts like a two-bit huckster trying to pry $ out of their wallet up until the plane pulls away from the gate.