I kind of view the new program as United hedging their rewards. Previously, short term goals i.e. 1K via miles also rewarded long term goals i.e. million mile status via miles flown. Now you have to fly more segments for 1K and distance to get MM. It doesnt matter much to me, I am a just short of global service 1K sucker who flies 150K BIS a year and spend about 30K usually. Killing the out of US exceptions for money spent is probably the biggest win for United.