Air France trying to discourages people from buying Y and then buy a cheap upgrade to J at check in. so they are increasing the price of upgrades at check in to target the the people buys then on the cheap.

At MSP there is a AF flight daily during the summer to CDG,(thanks to MAC paying almost $1mm for), they keep a list of passengers that often buy the upgrades at the gate. If you are on that list, the. They will quote you the $1300 vs the $695 for if you are not on the list.

I saw the list, it had people's name circled and each with a much higher price next to the names.

The local delta agent working on the flight told me it is an AirFrance policy.