The people hurt the most in this case are the business flyers who work for acompany that buys only the cheapest avaialbe fare. These soon-to-be former elites will either need to do many MRs or find another carrier. Many, many will leave.
The addeded incentive to buy on line in the first 6 months of next year is just thinly veiled attempt to get people to hang on and think maybe it won't be so bad and not leave. THIS is a smatrt tactic and will have some limited success with sheep.