I think you are correct. If this is part of UA's new business model, it will not work. They need to loosen up the R/RN availability.
And, to answer your question more directly, here is why I thought this was a new UA policy: back in July 2012 I booked four rt tkts to SYD with plenty of R/RN availability for the entire family. I was surprised to see so much availability given my experience with PMCO. Somehow, I thought that this was a "new UA" policy, a change I would like, but I understand now that it was the last vestige of PMUA policy that had not been yet taken away by the CO management. In fact, there is no more R/RN availability to Sydney now. I was able to buy the tkts before they shut the door!
Again, I believe this is a flawed business model.
Sadly, I am beginning to agree with others here who have argued that the new UA incorporated some of the worst aspects of each airline.
That makes sense. It's become much worse, month by month. I've seen the decline in R space rolling through the UA system. I have no idea how this works internally but my perception has been that R space is managed in different segments by different groups, and the CO team clamped down and eliminated R space in a rolling fashion, segment by segment after they were able to use SHARES to take control of it.
July is very low season to SYD, so that no doubt was a factor in finding easy R space.
The new normal, in my opinion, seems to be that R space simply does not exist except in exceptional circumstances. I'd say anecdotally it's been cut by more than 80%. They will keep those seats open, and peddle HOD offers to everyone on the plane, with the best offers reserved for those with no status on the lowest fares, and higher offers for loyal 1K flyers and the prices will keep falling until they find someone to take the seats. This is the "dynamic pricing" they are so proud of. Then, the standard seems to be that 1K's on the WL for R space will clear close to T-24 if they didn't get buyers for the HOD offers, or they might clear after T-24, assuming they make it on to the wait list (this requires running a gauntlet of uncontrollable SHARES obstacles) and then relying on the ground staff to competently clear the request manually (something I shared some insight into here - see item 15 and 16 on this link).
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...l#post20157178
So, whereas RN used to be an "entitlement" that we could all expect as part of 1K status, we've now basically been reduced to standby.