The problem here is Chase, not UA. Had Chase not pulled that BS, I would probably be still flying UA, despite them not being so convenient for me.
It makes no difference to me what their award tickets are like because I plan on paying at least some base fare and upgrading. At this point, AA's routes make more sense for me too. We'll see what happens with the merger, but I'm glad that I can earn miles easily with a bank that isn't rubbish.