Great plan if they can get it to work. I have my doubts.

Frequent flyers can come up with some very creative ways to abuse programs like this. One way that comes to mind immediately for this is with refundable tickets.

Infrequent flyers aren't going to be as moved by this $250 offer as some think. I think its a fair offer but for people that only fly once a year, what are they gonna do with a $250 voucher that expires in a year. So I think rolling this out to FF members is the way to go.

I suspect that even if this is wildly successful, that UA will promptly break it by trying to scalp business travelers by more seats overbooked on more flights.