I have changed my travel strategy over the past 18 months, I use UA now only for domestic where status, given weather,MX, etal is important.
Driven by the quality of the Polaris product which I find infinitely variable I moved all my international to travel to the best price/quality available where I find I get treated at least as well as when I am flying UA .
I pushed the points earned by the spend to the credit card which gives me the flexibility of use,Very happy with the way things are working out