I still haven't gotten the e-mail from United! I did get one from CO, though I have shunted most of my earning to UA in anticipation of program integration.

The changes are pretty much a wash for me, but I sympathize with all complaining here - it is definintely a devaluation for very frequent flyers.

I'm not clear on low I will be able to best use my upcoming batch of "UA" SWU's, since UACO is rapidly clearing out UA-branded flights in my home IAH market. I suppose that the CO branded flights (connecting to UA TPACS/TALTS) would be elegible for UDU, but my success rate for UDUs on flights of one carrier for which my associated number is of the other brand has been dismally low(0/8) despite being both CO Plat and UA 1K. It definitely makes a difference in getting the upgrade - better to have the branded carrier and FF number the same.

As others have noted, this bodes ill for future developments.