There appears to be a concensus appearing here...
And it also suggests that we could use greater flexibility vis a vis certs, even by those using Passes most of the time. So given AE's penchant for "design it yourself" benefits, why not change the cert u/g system to a points one where Ps, Es and SEs at the start of each benefit year have Y, Yx2 and Yx3 credits in our accounts. For each 15K status miles flown we receive another few credits. Then upgrades would be offered using these credits with roughly the same ratio as SWUs and SSWUs represent. So those who don't use SWUs can convert their credits into the equivilent of SSWUs (even though we've gone as high as 3 SWUs per SSWU, it's likely more 2 to 1*). Of course, this does not serve AC since it would prefer unused SWUs to remain unused so there is less call on upgrade inventory. But given fare category changes, the Pass product, etc. it is time to make such adjustments for the elite cert upgrade program.
I have no idea what number of credits should be earned every 15K, nor how many each tier of elitedom should get at the start of the year...but in this regard the mix shouldn't be much different than the current one.
Then if we are booking a TANGO+ fare, we'd use maybe 3 credits, a L fare maybe just 2 credits, and a L+ a single credit. This can easily be applied to the new international fare groupings too, though given flights are longer the number of credits might be slightly higher.
Anyhow, it is clear the current system that has been used since the start of the u/g cert program is no longer compatible with the fare products AC is selling. And I for one would not even complain if we received slightly less under a new scheme, if we had the flexibility that such a scheme would permit.
* Actually, AC itself appears to consider the ratio to be more like 1.5 SWUs to 1 SSWU at least for SEs who get 4 SWUs then 2 SWUs at 45K, then another two batches of SWUs until 75K when another pair of SSWUs arrives, and so on.