This is a marketing blunder.
It's counterproductive to announce a price increase, from $175 to $195, when you are actually lowering your price, from $175 to $95. I understand why they want to offer the Airline Fee Credit rather than an outright fee reduction, but increasing the top line fee is a distraction. They should have left the annual fee alone, and implemented an $80 credit.
What is the benefit to announcing these changes three months before they become effective? I suppose they want to use them as a retention tool to reduce cancellations in March, April and May, and to counteract Citi's forthcoming Premier card campaign, but how difficult or expensive could it be to implement at least some of these changes immediately?
It's not a price drop. Many people don't use the airline fee credit. A price drop to $95 would be much more expensive to them.
Clearly, cash (which you can spend on anything, at any time you want) is worth more than a credit which you must spend on a very limited selection of items, in a very limited amount of time. So, to call the net cost $95 is misleading.