Because it made people spend less time to do what they wanted to do, simple as that.
I’m talking about the “reward” of having flight removed from you and then requiring you to do some nonsense grinding for reputation and then having to wait about an year to do it again, to then have flying.
The only part of Pathfinder that makes a tiny bit of sense is the exploration one, but that’s it.
Yes, flight was removed for the current content before, but what you had to do? Get to max level and buy it with gold, that’s it, no time gating or rep grinding crap required, just play the game, reach max level and it’s there, just go on and buy it.
If you don’t have the gold, then that’s on you, but the option to obtain flight is there from the start, there is no arbitrary time gating behind it, you take your own pace with leveling and then once you reach max level, you buy the thing.
What could be done is: Unlocking with gold on your first max level character and then, if you explore the entire map for the new areas, you’re able to buy it at the start of leveling, rather than the end.
Pathfinder as it is right now is just their way of removing flight for as long as possible, while the content isn’t even all that good. M+ and Raiding are the things saving BfA at this point (note that I’m talking specifically about the expansion, not the whole game).