I am upset rather than relieved by this change. I viewed Plat as 1K Lite. You didn't quite make 1K, so you didn't get any GPUs, but you still got a couple of RPUs, group 1 boarding, and no fee for award changes/redeposits. As others have pointed out, the flexibility to change awards closer to travel time, for example when XN inventory became available instead of previously booked YN, was a very nice benefit. I am planning to write a letter to UA to express my views. I suppose it's foolish to think that they might change their minds, but it won't stop me from writing my letter.