It's in keeping with the whole theme of AA's int'l flagship service... trying to fool the pax into thinking they're getting real value for the several thousand bucks they stupidly paid for their tickets (by paying the published tariffs for their routes).

It seems the business model AA is using on int'l flagship is designed to deliver value for the dollar to large corporate/government accounts (who pay wildly discounted rates) while scalping the living sh*t out of all other pax.

For people like me (CEO of an int'l company with less than 100 employees), AA's premium product is a sucker's bet. But, hey, if I was still with IBM, I'd have a very different opinion!!