AF previous system was very simple and did not really discriminate by fare bucket or flights. The segmentation by flights was asimple formula on load. The upgrade prices were quite cheap.
The new system is much more complex. It depends on a lot of parameters (including the likely number of staff/family/friends on that flight
). I assume that AF will go through a period of experimentation and then adjust the parameters according to the results. There is little doubt though that prices will not be as cheap as before. But if AF gets half the number of pax to pay upgrade twice the price, they benefit. I can also understand that AF realized that its cheap upgrades meant that some frequent flyers became accustomed to buying upgrades, therefore not minding buying cheap tickets.
I was expecting Plat posters to be happy about the change as it would mean more free opup opportunities. At least that would be true on airlines where the policy is to prioritize opups based on status (AF seemed to have a somewhat-different opup policy trying to also induce non-frequent AF pax). But I guess that Plats are also very frequent flyers benefiting regularly from these cheap upgrades.