Chintzy? Because of their boarding passes? Come on. If anything makes UA seem chintzy it's the outdated interiors of the plane. The BPs are intended to be "use once, discard after miles post." Those few people who keep them for months or years, while perhaps common on FT, are rather rare overall.

I don't need an engraved invitation to get on the plane, and I personally wouldn't care if the BPs were printed on toilet paper as long as they were legible and lasted long enough to get my miles posted. I dunno what everyone else does with their BPs but my stub goes in my pocket for the flight and in my bag afterwards, and I've never had any problems making them last "long enough." For anyone who wants to collect, the onus of preservation should be on the collector, not on UA.

Sure, I "like" the cardstock ones better... but I "prefer" the thermal ones because they are overall cheaper for UA and better for the environment (more BPs per kilogram = lower distribution and production costs per BP, less waste overall, and fewer resources consumed in dealing with that waste). It doesn't in any way reduce my opinion of UA.