Surprised to read that is the case. Usually during IROPS the passenger gets lucky and the new fare class prevails for anything from mileage and status points accrual to associated benefits etc. At least that's my experience on any other airline, whether traveling on cash or award fares which got bumped up to highest revenue due to IROPS. Then again, why would QR rules make sense in this rather obscure scenario, when they already don't in much clearer ones..