Only time will tell if AC got the cost benefit analysis right. While I can buy your argument Transpacificflyer, the basic business truth is that the cost of customer acquisition is usually higher than retaining a customer, and losing $70K isn't that bad - sure, but if you go digging, there are a LOT of high spenders on this board who went ape**** and took their money elsewhere after the 2015 changes (many posting photos as proof). 70K * 1000 people (again we are just one board), is $70,000,000. That's still a sizable dent...
Again, we'll see if AC got the calculations right in time.