There was an interesting post on the UA board a while back about UGS. Essentially, only maybe 60% of UGS flyers are high-paying high-BIS miles flyers, the rest are "comped" by United for various reasons. Some without ever setting foot on a United plane!

My SO's uncle flies 4 or 5 times in paid F to Brazil from ORD on UA and he is UGS. Other than that he never sets foot on a UA flight.

I've always been curious about whether US has or will have a super secret "ultra" elite ala United. I'm going to barely hit CP (or CP-FTD) this year, but as I've been flying weekly and often buying Y and B fares, by the end of the year I will have given US roughly $30K. I'm sure some of you heavy international last minute flyers are giving US probably $50K or more yearly ...