I did receive the survey.
I do not understand the "problem" that AA is trying to fix. I am a multiyear EXP, and my e500 (UDU) upgrade %age has dropped from circa 90% three or four years ago to about 65% today. I have circa 20,000 EQD every year, so I should be somewhere near the midpoint of EXPs on any given flight.
I do monitor availability on ExpertFlyer, and I use alternate instruments (BXP1s, 15,000 mileage awards, SWUs) on occasion. I am excluding those instances from my percentages.
For my flights at least, I believe AA has already successfully monetized the domestic First Class cabin. Of my 35% "misses", most are flights where no upgrades clear at all, implying that the cabin has been entirely filled with paying customers (miles or dollars). About 1-in-3 of the misses, or 10-15% of my total upgradeable flights, one or two upgrades are processed, and I miss out because of my EQDs.
So to recapitulate:
65% domestic flights I get my UDU, usually one or two days in advance (rarely four days out aka T-100 hours)
25% domestic flights nobody gets a UDU -- first is sold out
10% domestic flights, a couple of higher value EXPs get upgraded, but not all EXPs including me.
I figured this is how the eggheads at AAdvantage want the upgrade program to work, and I am OK with it. Why change it again now, just a couple of years after its last overhaul?