Originally Posted by
UA-NYC
You'll find no shortage of UA flyers who rue the day they introduced UDUs. While I'm not one of them, if you did any mix of dom/int'l, you likely had more than enough CR-1s and e500s to cover all your domestic UG needs (and had a better chance of clearing).
Indeed, UDU is good for 1k who fly mostly domestically, and very good for 1P/2P who fly non-Elite heavy routes and/or at non-peak times.
Is getting upgraded on 1-hr, Tuesday morning ORD-MSP flight a benefit? Sure. But I'm much more interested in getting upgraded on SFO-ORD going home on Thursday night after a full day of of work, and it is frequently a challenge these days, even for a 1k. Using e500 pretty much guaranteed a seat in F when it mattered most, at least for me.