You're not missing anything. It seems that US programs tend to outshine their EU counterparts (although I'm sure there are many that will disagree with me).

For the most part, all flights you take on US carriers will credit 100% flight miles to your account. So if you say you fly 30K in a year, that would be enough for a domestic RT ticket, and Premier (2P) status on UA. This would theoretically entitle you Unlimited Domestic Upgrades, albeit quite infrequent, a benefit that doesn't exist in Europe.

The only drawback I see in US programs, is that you're not going to get free lounge access on domestic flights just for achieving status.