Maybe if enough elites let UA know what a mistake the $50 standby fee is for 1P/2P travelers, they'll back off on it. For 1Ps. You know, the take something away, then give back a little bit of it as an "enhancement."

This is a serious devaluation of UA, given that even US waives their standby fees for the lowest-tier elites (and apparently for *S/*G pax fairly frequently, too).

Maybe this is the stick (no carrot) to drive pax to a shortly-to-be-announced fee-based DEQM, or to yet another "elite for a day" upsell which offers the standby (a $50!! value!!!!) alongside the other junk.