It quotes FT founder Randy Petersen (note spelling of family name not the same as the reporter's).

What I found interesting was that most of the favors people pleaded for, and eventually got, would have been standard with American. The top-tier chap on US who took time off to care for his father, lost status, and was eventually given first-tier status as a favor would only have been dropped to mid-tier under AA's standard policy, no need to ask for anything. And the chap who missed out when UA cancelled his year-end flights would have just had to ask for Original Routing Credit, which AA gives (on request) as a matter of course.