Thank you American!
I qualified this year again as ExPlat, and I was wondering if next year it would make sense to try qualifying again.
Before this news my gripes were:
- terrible award flight availability (when between A to B exists a direct connection --> A to C to B, super long layovers in C, red-eye)
- terrible award chart (BA fees)
- only 4 SWU, difficult to use

Now they made the decision super easy. If the race to the bottom is to weed out loyal customers, then that is what they get.