"grey market"-prices for UA (or LH) from Zurich (vai FRA) to the US are cheaper than what is quoted on United Connection etc, and often it offers even less restrictions (example: grey-market = only Sunday Rule, officially 8 days stay).

Before booking, I look up the grey-market-price (http://www.kuoni.ch is the biggest travel-agency with a ticket-shop online for grey-market tickets), print it out, and confrontate the airline's office with it. Till the end of september (UA closed their Zurich office by then) UA always matched that fare "secretly" (inprinted was a higher price than what I actually paid, and it made the ticket valid for international upgrades).

Since I know this I have no/little scruples anymore to try "to beat the system, to apply ff-guerilla-technics"