Many posters are pretty harsh. The OP is a one time poster. He's not a frequent flyer. He doesn't pour over announcements from UA.

I would imagine there are scores of 1Ks who have no clue they are 1K? Why? Because they are too busy with life to focus so much on miles. I'm sure those 1K's used to throw away SWU's without realizing it.

UA should have a little grace period. Maybe they already do.