UA won't be getting rid of early boarding for elites on BE tickets. I agree they 'paid' for it somehow. But also, this is part of the exact reason UA has different elite thresholds with and without PQFs. If you want to fly BE all over the place and not earn PQFs then go for it but you're going to need to spend a lot more money to get the same elite level as someone who meets it on lower PQPs and with PQFs. Therefore, elite early boarding will never be touched. Might be tweaked in terms of group assignments.

-RM