A couple of thoughts
1. 1K are punished in that their spend on UA credit cards doesn't give a waiver, where as it does give a waiver for Silver, Gold and Platinum. Always good to punish the ones who fly the most
2. With Global Service status being primarily based on spend anyways, the wording of the new structure implies that if you just have a high amount of spend and not much in the way of Butt in Seat Miles, you are SOL.
3. While there seems to be a lot of talk of defecting, I think you'll see all of the carriers do this or similar, so I am not sure there is much point.