1K desk isn't outsourced, overflow is. Premier, 1K and GS are all staffed out of Chicago and Houston reservation centers (and remote agents). It routes to overseas call centers as overflow if wait times are high, but the desks are still US based. Granted Chicago and Houston are a ton of new employees, many of which don't know how to do anything more than a simple flight change.

They are empowered, the problem is the first word you said though - Inexperienced. Many agents don't know how to do anything that requires more than a simple point and click change. So either they think its not allowed or they call the support desks for things they should be able to do on their own, which then overwhelms them with calls and leads to 30-60 minute+ hold times for things which actually require the support desk. My understanding though is unless something is specifically violates a fare rule, requires a difference in fare, or requires overbooking a flight, the front line phone agents are allowed quite a bit of discretion to do right by us as passengers.

I mean the cancellation reason shouldn't matter for a premium cabin as UA's policies allow them to reroute premium cabin passengers on other airlines even for uncontrollable cancellations. Problem is they don't internally consider premium plus a separate cabin from economy (even though everything about it looks like a separate cabin including having its own booking codes ). Their official stance is it's a premium experience still within the economy cabin which is why they'll only reroute in economy and treat any disruptions to travel the same as any other economy fare.