not one to start threads frivolously, i do note that the quite reasonable thread asking that SWUs be useful on all fares, has become unwieldy and sometimes intemperate. Yet many things emerged in that thread. The most significant to me, is the recurring theme that once SWUs were valuable and now they are not. People often talk of their SWUs expiring. Other people point out that there is no value to them, personally, to bother maintaining 1K status.
There are a number of reasons why SWUs have become of little worth. It is not my point to articulate why. It is merely my point that it should be pointed out to UA MP, that if people cant use them they wont bother flying to get them, or more significantly, they wont bother banking anything other than the first 50,000 with MP and then after that they will be very tempted to court another program within the alliance. Elite fliers are kept onboard because they get something that matters to them.