While it's still cyber monday .... if anyone really believes that AC is gaming the system, then I encourage you to find any prices that you're suspicious of, and then post the price and associated fare booking codes here, tonight (while the sale is still on). Then we can all watch together to see if the base fares go back down again, once the sale has finished. And with the data that you've posted here, we'll be able to understand how AC did it.
If the prices don't go back down again, but have actually gone up permanently ... then I ask you to consider whether or not this was an artificial price fixing situation, as appears to be implied - or is it just that previously cheap fares are now sold out (which, you know, is kinda what happens).
Bottom line, I'm a little skeptical that AC is doing anything deceptive, but I am very interested in seeing details so that we can all move past innuendo and start talking facts. If AC really is temporarily inflating base prices during a sale (perhaps by zeroing out cheaper fare classes), then they should be held to account.