Agreed (as a long-time Gold and earlier, Gold 75K when that was the highest status level). This is not good for those of us who earned Million Miler status and have Gold status for life, now that there are two levels above us and paid upgrades are being aggressively sold on the app and at the gate. I've pretty much given up on any complimentary upgrades that I can't confirm at booking. Even those using complimentary upgrade certs appear more rarely now.

But that's how all loyalty programs seem to evolve over time. The bar keeps getting higher for the same effective (not stated) level of benefits.