Softlanding was never an official perk. In fact, they present this very clearly in the "Maintain your current tier" section of each tier description.
In case you don’t have enough points to remain a [Platinum Lumo] member, your remaining point balance will determine your new tier. Your tier point balance will then be reset to zero and a new tracking period will begin.
The text has been the same/similar over the years, making one wonder if this actually was an unofficial perk or if it was just a flaw in the system. Regardless, they devoted time and effort to address the climbing-the-ladder effect, so I would not count on any unoffical perk to remain over time.
Maybe I'm a debbie-downer but there hasn't been any positive signals from AY+ management, so all one can judge from is the actions taken.