Not surprising re: who is flying. As I noted in another thread, I was one of the only / couple GS/1K flying on EWR-LAX RT...it is crazy how much premier demand and flying has cratered at this time. Suppose that supports UA's heavy reliance on business travel, as well as its premier flying population.
I do wish that there was more creativity on route bookings. It costs $2k a week to rent a car via Hertz from NYC, and likely not much lower from other companies in NYC. I bought a RT first-class ticket for EWR-PWM for $325 PER PERSON - rented a car from PWM for $1k for 2 weeks...that will save me $2k+ for vacation. Surely $325 RT is less than UA would usually book on NE summer trips, but at the same time, it has to be much better from a cost perspective, flying that on an E170/175, than it may have been otherwise (when EWR-PWM, except for the late departure ex-EWR, was always an E145).