Originally Posted by
WineCountryUA
My guess is the vast majority of award travellers book in advance to get availability and coordinate other plans -- hotels, ... (and now cancel / change are much cheaper than paid tickets for elites). While your travel patterns may be last minute, the penalty is probably less than you parking fees.
In other words you think this was a net cash-poor decision for UA.
I don't think you give their Finance dept enough credit.