I don't care about the miles (I've stopped chasing status on AC and once I lose my SE status on March 1st, I'm assuming it will be hard for me to use my existing miles). I just thought that if UA Y was not too bad, then I might as well get something more for the same price. (But it sounds like UA Y is not worth the extra miles).

I looked into E+ on the UA flights, but they only had middle seats left - I definitely can't do the long flight in a middle seat, even if the pitch is better.