Got an answer from what was said to be the 1k MileagePlus desk on the phone, and the rep said these tickets earn full miles and elite bonus when credited to UA's program.

Had some doubt about that and asked for email confirmation of the matter. The rep said they didn't have access to send out emails. Then asked for an employee name/ID in case the flights don't get credited. Got something back that was in the form of what seemed to be a first name with m50 appended to it (perhaps with an intial in between). Is that actually a structure used for employee IDs at this airline?

A fine effort is always appreciated, but the best made efforts aren't going to be counted positively in this case if the information were to be wrong. I hope she's right because I am relying upon UA's verbal representations; that is why I am not cancelling these tickets (which are within a courtesy cancel window for a full refund) and rebooking the trip on AA or DL where I would get 100% miles plus elite bonus.