But to be fair, UCnxn couldn't process upgrades and change seat assignments as a result. At least we can do that.
Actually, IIRC it did allow you to request a 500 miler upgrade. After all, those were the days of all-paper upgrades. But this point is valid in that while it did what it did VERY well, there was a whole lot that it didn't do.
But for buying a ticket? Its only fault in that regard was that you couldn't specify a fare bucket. Otherwise, nothing better before or since.