I suspect it was a matter of perspective. It’s now been about 40 years since deregulation; that was a completely different landscape.

For years, the Civil Aeronautics Board mandated that any given carrier offer either domestic or international service, but not both. United was a domestic carrier. After deregulation, the domestic carriers started trying to build out international service. Rather than being surprised that UA’s offerings were so “pathetic,” it’s probably more surprising that they were able to get as many flights as they did prior to the PanAm route acquisition. (PA’s post-deregulation approach didn’t work at all; I suspect it was easier to add international service to a domestic airline than vice versa).