Its almost sad how AC can turn what should be a great perk into a mess.

Reality, I suspect if the agent can back and said sorry the new AC rules will not let me upgrade a second passenger, and I am sorry. You probably would have accepted the agent tried, and could not do anything.

However as usual AC has no ability to treat a customer like a customer.

Not much you can do other than vent on FT, or twitter. Try to fly other airlines, and put your award/Flight miles to more useful programs is the bottom line.