The upside to the UA approach is mainly for the 1P's. Since most of my life has been the 1P level (only 1K since last year), I've actually appreciated the fact that not all 1K's are automatically in F every time. (Granted, now that I am 1K, I realize I can't possibly use all of my domestic upgrade instruments so I put in "pending upgrade" requests on every domestic segment I fly.)

Being somewhat new to 1K, I haven't felt a big impact in the limitation to W and above to use SWU's. My effective "copays" have been $70-110 per seat per direction. Perhaps this is a function of 2009 airfares and demand. (My SWU's have been used TATL.)

Given that UA isn't going to drop the W requirement, I at least wish they'd allow a free upfare to W if NC availability comes open after you've bought a lower-fare ticket. To me, that seems like a winning scenario for UA - I don't understand why it isn't allowed.