Originally Posted by lowfareair

1) Awesome to see - seemed very dumb that you couldn't earn additional LPs for that - although some here may hate that it could drive additional people to purchase upgrades, tightening the free upgrade pool even more

2) This goes along with seeing AA increase the Main Cabin fare difference from Basic Econ - it used to be $30 one way almost all the time domestically, now I've seen the difference as high as $74 recently. They are making Basic Econ what Main Cabin used to be pre-COVID for flexibility with change cancellation fees but restricting the benefits like seat assignments, and Main Cabin will likely become more and more pricier vs Basic over time and more like the Flexible fares of yesteryear

3) This is actually a reduction in benefits for those who are part of other programs but not elite (including AA elites making a booking with Avios bc they have them through Chase/Amex). Also a (small) reduction in benefits for elites - elites were already prioritized, this just increases the chances of not making standby on a full flight because a non-member on that flight couldn't standby for an earlier flight, which would have opened up the seat for the elite member.