Well, I'm hedging my bets. Booked an AA award ticket ALB-GJT via DFW for only 17.5k miles in First. Granted, not lie-flat seats like the UA itinerary, but it is also more direct (ie, one stop) and has a "continental breakfast" vs. a bag of potato chips from the "premium snack basket" if UA doesn't have the meal ORD-DEN (still listed as such and they still sell it as such), but with only 50 minutes connection in ORD (and anything from ALB is always a different terminal than the DEN flight) I'll make it to the gate just as they're boarding, so won't have enough time to stand 20-30 min in line to get anything.
But we'll see. Just hate to them have a FFC I have a year to burn. Can always cancel the AA award ticket if needbe.