I think we can mostly agree the timing of the announcement is not timely and not sensitive in the current environment, but I have been withholding my views on the impact until I have a chance to review my full year of *A partner (ticked on non-16 stock) flights and perform an analysis of possible impact.

Here are my 2019 *A partner flight activities on non-16 tickets:

PQM: 91,474
RDM: 110,475

(Actual PQM and RDM earned from *A partner flights are higher but I backed out those flights ticketed on 016 stock)

SQ (multiple of 6) is my primary *A partner airlines (for my PPS status and also I like flying SQ), followed by LH/LX/OS, CA and NH (multiple of 5), then TG and OZ (multiple of 6).

Based on award miles divided by the multiples assigned for preferred partners vs. other partners, I came up with 18.456 PQP (with no Cap)
Based on award miles divided by the multiples assigned for preferred partners vs. other partners, I came up with 16,549 PQP (with Caps of 1500/1000/750/500)

How does the program changes impact me:

I earned 3.66 GPUs (Using the PQM earned last year)
I would earn 3.08 GPUs (using 20 PlusPoints per 3,000 PQPs, and 40 points equals 1 GPU) - With No CAP
I would earn 2.76 GPUs with CAP

My *A partner flight activities are irrelevant to achieving my elite status on United, because I flew over 270,000 BIS on United in 2019 and I am a lifetime GS.

Base on my 2019 *A flight activities I am losing one GPU (40 PlusPoints), but that is because my choice to fly more on SQ than preferred partners. If I balance my flight activities with earning PlusPoints in mind, I could move some SQ flights to CA/NH/LH/LX/OS while still maintaining PPS on SQ and make up for that 40 PlusPoints. However, the difference between CAP and No-CAP PQP numbers is not that great based on my 2019 activities.

Although the PQP difference is small to me, I do understand every PQP counts if one is on the borderline of making desired status each year.

This is just one data point and I am US based. Others may have different outcomes based on their activities.

I encourage FTers doing similar analysis to assess personal impact before forming opinions on the latest change instead of getting caught up in the changes.