This isn't a UA specific issue.
For flights from NYC to VIE in late August, the pricing falls into the following categories:
The UA/LH/AC and BA/AA/IB JVs price their flights almost identically - 1-stop flights are $5,500, the UA/LH/AC JV has a non-stop option for $7k
The DL/VS JV is significantly more expensive for their 1-stop flights (DL's price is more than UA's non-stop!)
There are several second-tier airlines that offer more competitive pricing - OS and LO for example.
Apparently this is the pricing that the industry believes the market will tolerate for this time window. I'm simply not seeing this as a "pricing change" by UA - TATL pricing changes on a very regular basis, at least in the 15 years I've been buying tickets on a very regular basis.