I agree with the fastrack being expensive but think about E+ access this way:

My example is a coworker.

If you are a GM and take a monthly biz flight from DEN-SFO you will end up with about 23k miles (next year you will be 2P with a DEQM or a personal flight in there somewhere). You can upgrade each leg (24) for $29 ( I think this is still the price), thats $696 to upgrade every leg to E+. When you think about it that way it doesn't sound so bad and even the fastrack doesn't sound so bad considering you get 2P status around Jul/Aug.

I doubt the target market is return customers, but rather new frequent travelers or new customers to UA. Plus, I have heard of a few people in my company con-ing their supervisors into paying for it, which is ridiculous considering our travel policy, but oh well.