I look at this as a math question.

It costs $699 to buy it. It doesn't get you E+ until check in where often many of the good seats are already gone. It does include one free bag worth $25. You would have to fly just under 28 flights checking a bag to get the $699 back. I believe unless you are flying really short hops all the time, you'd earn silver status or beyond before 28 legs.

Doesn't seem worth it at all to me. United still seem to think that their financial problems are because they haven't manage to monetize things properly, but their financial problems are due to the fact that their product trails their competition in most cases. You can have tv and wifi on the jet, and land on time, but if the crew treat you like garbage, that's what you remember. On most flights on United you don't get the tv or the wifi and they still treat you like garbage.