At the risk of drawing peoples' ire, I will say the only international flyers who benefited from the old SWU's were those flying YBM. Very few people bought YBM with their own money, and in many cases, people were taking advantage of corporate travel policies by deliberating booking last minute or on busy days when cheaper (non YBM) fares were not available.

IMHO the previous SWU scheme was largely a scam and generally resulted in higher fares and fewer UG opportunities overall.

I think the change will be an improvement for most international travelers