First, GPUs:
Allow 1Ks to use GPUs as they can today, to upgrade from a W+ Y fare to lie-flats when R space is available
OR...
Allow 1Ks to use 2 GPUs to upgrade from <W to lie-flats when R space is available
OR...
Allow 1Ks to use 2 GPUs to upgrade from W+ to lie-flats when R space is exhausted but seats remain available in the cabin
OR...
Allow 1Ks to use 3 GPUs to upgrade from <W to lie-flats even if R space is not available but seats are still available in the cabin (perhaps with some specific holiday black out dates).
Second, award travel. Keep the excursionist perk for those constructing stopovers on a trip, but allow the multi city tool to be used to concoct any Zone A to Zone B (but not via Zone C) itinerary with <24 hour stopovers (<4 hours domestic when next flights are sooner). And be realistic about I space: I can't recall the number of times I've seen zero I space for February TPACs 9, 10, 11 months out...despite knowing well that those TPACs will go out with 10 or more empty business seats. (UA seems to finally have released the I space for February...but then again UA also emailed me about a sub-$600 round trip fare to CTU, so I think that's a result of recent events and not UA's norm).
Third, emulate AA's "super-saver" calendar for Y with below-saver redemption rates during the true off-season every year on a calendar pax can plan around, not some one-off sale.
Fourth, change BE to earn 0.5 PQM/PQD/PQS and 1.0 MM qualification miles. No one's going to hit 1K or MM off of BE fares, but if they find themselves on the occasional BE ticket, show that you still value them as a customer.
Finally, make ALL dollars spent with United count for PQD.
There's got to be a way to make the CPU system better but I think that's a separate discussion, and will need to be addressed comprehensively when International PE comes out.