The only problem is that there's so many elites on UA (this includes CO elites too) that if any *G could book E+ on booking, the UA elites who didn't book a month ahead would be sitting in the back. Some days I'm flying UA on a route like SFO-IAD and it almost seems like everyone is elite. The only thing you can do is to credit a couple of longhauls to UA a year to get 2P and access to E+/UDU, which is what I ended up doing. UA is just cheap overall, look at award blocking for their own elites.

I really want UA to update its 747s too (it isn't Ryanair, why can't we at least get our own TV?). I had quite the surprise when I first switched my long-haul flying from CX/BA to UA this year, I think I nearly cried. That being said, free E+ has got me hooked to UA and I'm not thinking of switching back.