I had one ticket on this fare, so I'm sad to see it not being honored. However, as the story unfolded to hear thousands of people buying tickets and others buying 30+ tickets (Herman), it made me wonder what would be the implication if ANA did honor this.

It very likely would dry up partner award space. To reduce the heavy loss, they may have had to reduce or eliminate many of the offers on board. I wondered if this went through the decision process when they considered what to do.