US Airways Dividend Miles (Pre-FlightFund Merger) - As a Silver in SFO, why should I fly US anymore?

So, I moved out here from PIT about 2 years ago and decided to remain loyal to US as they had treated me very well, and most of my travel was to be transcon (PIT and mostly EWR specifically). I fly about 40 - 45K a year, almost 100% on US (and an occassional WN leg when going to southern CA or SEA).

I found out this past Tuesday that I needed to be in the EWR area on Thursday. I decided that I would go ahead and do non-stop on UA SFO-EWR-SFO because it was going to be a very short trip, and I wasn't in the mood for a stop in PIT, CLT, or (ugh) PHL.

I just have to say that the UA service was AMAZING! It was like waking up from a dark sleep that is the US transcon.

1. As a Silver, I often clear CLT-EWR (PIT - EWR and PHL - EWR are all RJs), but I only have a maybe 30% chance of clearing to F on the transcon. So that doesn't help much.
2. I got to sit in Economy Plus..... I'm 6 feet tall, and I could actually cross my legs.
3. THEY GAVE US FOOD! In Y! It was hot too! Included in the ticket price! On the way to EWR I had turkey breast, and I had steak on the way back this evening and they were actually good.
4. Channel 9 was awesome! The UA pilot on the way back tonight gave us a whole speech (to those listening to Channel 9) on the route, the plane's weight, what it takes to be a pilot, United's history etc. etc. Also, if we had questions about ANYTHING aviation related we were encouraged to write them down, give them to the flight attendant, and then they were answered on Channel 9 by the pilot. (before I get flamed, YES, I understand I was probably lucky and this is probably a VERY rare occurence)
5. On each flight there were 3 beverage runs in Y in addition to 2 coffee/water only runs.
6. I got to board in Zone 1! My status on US means more to UA than it does to US when it comes to boarding zones apparently.

UA is in bankrupcy too. How come I felt the best getting off of these past two flights than I have the previous 2 years getting off of US transcons? Perhaps if I were GP or CP and could fly F exclusively I'd feel different.

I feel like I'm betraying an old friend. :confused:

I think your second to last sentence hit it on the head for me. I have done alot of "soul searching" loyalty-wise for the past few weeks. It is precisely because I am a GP and have a pretty good record of clearing F in transcons - coupled with what I still believe to be the best group of frontline employees - that keeps me flying US as a West-coast based flyer. Although US is no longer a shoe-in for my transcon business. I am taking more factors into consideration now when booking transcons - primarily the hassle-factor in flying out of LAX now that the US Club is history.

Only two advantages that I can see of flying US instead of UA from SFO:

1) shorter security lines, as the gate area used by US is practically dead

2) free upgrades, though it may be hard to get an upgrade ex-SFO as a Silver and UA's coach cabin has better food on transcons anyway.