The award chart devaluation is a bit of a blower. It's not major to Europe which is where I burn most of my miles. 40k RT becomes 45k, but there's still the problem of BA YQ. And the definition of Off-Peak changed.
Europe: January 10 - March 14, November 1 - December 14
Overall, I don't really see any positive changes in the announcement other than EQP going away in favor of EQM bonuses. The 7.5k award level could be marketed as an improvement, but that ignores the BA 4.5k award going away - it's a different program, but no doubt BA and AA aligned on that 7.5k short haul award price.