"When I pressed for clarification, he asked me point blank, "You are doing this for miles, right? To make status?"

1. UA and their FF affinity credit card companies constantly bombard us with ways to get miles, get status, fly the world in First class for free, on and on and on. They want us to "do it for miles". They beg us to do so. They give us a rich, romantic picture of the FF nirvana. So how can they be surprised if we "do it for miles"

2. I rarely HUACA, and wouldn't push it as far as the OP, but it's almost tit for tat. UA has devalued benefits and shown hostility to FFyers. And it seems that simple customer service issues don't get solved by email after email or by call after call.

Respect needs to go both ways.