It has been this way for a long time - UA has a vastly inferior soft product, but I would buy Polaris if it were cheaper than it's EU competitors (who in my view have had a perfectly fine hard product, but I am of average size). However, it was and is usually the most expensive option. Years ago, I got to 1K by regularly getting PZ on at least one leg to bring the overall cost down. I used to think the high retail price was because they knew their corporate customers with contracts would pay a percentage of it, so the higher the better, and they did not care about individual business people/leisure travelers like me. Post-pandemic, I'm not so sure. But they seem to still fill their cabins, so good for them, I suppose. Maybe some people just prefer a US airline, or are just not inclined to check out the competition. (I have one relative who rarely flies international and chose a US airline to CDG essentially because they thought if they were on AF it would be too foreign-feeling, so those people are out there.)