Good morning!

I've been away for a while and am getting back into flying again a bit more. I'm flying tomorrow from STX to BWI as a newly reminted Platinum Pro on his way to EXP again (I hope, going to be close). I have lifetime Gold but rarely traveled solo and didn't get or expect many upgrades. One thing that seems to have changed since I was last ExPlat/CK/flying all the time: I'm inside my clearance window as a PPro and haven't cleared but they are offering to sell me upgrades for $$ on each segment. How does this work? I imagine that's been discussed heavily already (couldn't find a thread about it)? If they have inventory to sell upgrades at around $200 a segment then how do they not have the inventory to clear elites? My flights are AA1293 from STX to MIA and AA 2424 MIA-BWI. I'm wondering if the "complimentary" upgrades have any shot on this flight given that they are selling them for a pretty decent price and if I should just pay up? The whole thing seems so shady to me and makes me rethink trying to earn status on AA any longer.

Any thoughts,

Sean