I like the UA FAs being militant about this.

Now that said I think star alliance members should offer the elites from all the airlines "preferred seats" gratis, but I understand why they don't.

I refuse to pay for E+ cuz the price (plus exchange) is outrageous imo.

What I would potentially pay for though, is if I could get E+ included in my booking price. But that's not an option to my knowledge. My problem is the fare is $800, and I've got it in my head "ok I've just spent $800", then I go to pick a seat when the route is YVR-DEN-IAH-BOG and if I want E+ it's like $50+$60+$100. Adding more than 25% of the purchase price. So there's no way I'm gonna do it. If I could simply pay $800 + (E+ seating) for say $100, I would think hard about it. They'd get an extra $100 and I'd get a guaranteed better seating position rather than having to contemplate which flight i wanna spend extra on.

The one time I did pay, I totally regretted it afterwards. But I love that they don't just give it away on board.