I don't see why an elite member WOULDN'T consider a fanfare, especially if they were paying out of their own pocket. Seems more like nickle and diming from Cathay City.

You could say they're factoring in the possibility that one could previously obtain DM status simply by purchasing fanfares...but you'd have to do A LOT of flying to get 1200 tier points on fanfares (at least 120 round trips). And you could even argue the revenue that CX from 120 round trips could justify DM status. If anything, you'd be filling up seats on a plane that CX has trouble filling so that CX can then later charge more money for those who actually need to fly on that plane.