Originally Posted by
DreAAmliner
My 10,000ft take is everyone is losing out. With no more 500-mile stickers, Gold/Platinum are likely more incentivized to take a buy-up in an amount that would be more than the cost of what the stickers would have been, so as to not see their names so far down the UG list (thinking of a $250 buy-up, vs what would likely have been a $120 gamble). And, in doing so, they are "taking" CK/EXP/PPRO comp upgrade seats. The house always wins?
You are probably onto something. On the surface AA was giving away sticker income but in fact it's a forced incentive to pay an upgrade fee to guarantee an upgrade and those down the list this is the only way they're going to get upgraded.