For context, in 2019 mileage sales generated a bit over $5b. The 2020 figure may possibly wind up a bit down from that, but this could be viewed as an advance on the next year-ish of program revenue. So it is creative perhaps in the sense of leaving no stone un-turned, but not in terms of making numbers from whole cloth.
It will affect UA's profitability for a while, but probably it has not much impact upon the MP program.