... and how about those Frequent-Flieres that made a lot of real UA miles and 'suffered' as anybody else (but used another StarAlliance-ff-program for mileage credits)? On many long-haule-flights UA competes with other StarAlliance-members and a supplementary incentive could influence the desicion-making (of status fliers attached to other StarAlliance-ff-programs) which StarAlliance-Airline to choose.