My anwser to this is your a business traveller and doing buisness trips on UA an accumlating miles and you need to do a few extra trips to make it sure.
However if from the getgo your flying for pleasure and spending the money and more importantly the time ( in airports , and in the air) just to attain the status of being 1k its a questionable decision. In the end you put in a whole lot more than you ever get out of being 1k.
however it does have nice perks
