Damn, that's a pretty sweet deal, IMHO.

My parents survived UA 173 which crashed at PDX in 1978, killing ~10 people. They think they got $5000 (and can't remember if that was individually or collectively). Like AA at LIT, it was all pilot error.

UA has made back that $5000 and then some since my dad has been a UA MM for probably 8 years now. If they had made a deal to fly for free forever, they would have made out a LOT better.