You've got people on here hitting 1x/2x/3x the requirements for DL DM status... Nobody listened the moment they heard you hit FO for the first time.
They don't listen to us at the PM/DM level either... sometimes they do, but our singular voices are not enough to impact their strategy.
The mock reply you got is pretty spot on for their objectives as a business right now. Incidentally, they just brokered a practically exclusive agreement with my company for travel (yay for me it wasn't OW/SA!). They're locking in business, they're making profits... If I were them I'd say "Let's keep doing what's working and eliminate what isn't" and that seems to be exactly what's happening.