Don't forget about the RDM bonuses! For Silvers you get a 25% bonus miles on flights, so if you fly 25k miles a year, that's 6,250 free miles a year -- or halfway to a one-way domestic saver award. Not bad, plus the bonuses apply for travel on not just UA/UX, but also US Air, Air Canada, and Lufthansa group flights between the US and Europe.

For me, the RDM bonuses are one of the best things about having status, and what made booking a couple of MRs to get 1K economically feasible for me. As a 1K, you get a 100% bonus on RDMs, so taking a single 12,500 mile trip from SFO to Europe effectively gets me a free round-trip domestic saver award.

All UA elites also get a 500 mile minimum EQM/RDM on all flights, which can be fantastic if you find yourself connecting up and down the East coast, for example. You said can't do crazy itineraries because of work, which is understandable... but if you somehow happen to find yourself "having" to add a leg from TPA-FLL or IAD/PHL-EWR every now and then, you can add a thousand miles to a trip, and that can add up.