More United Airlines Frustration

I am a Premier Executive frequent flyer program member with United Airlines. To any passenger riding the airline, it's amazingly obvious as to why the company is going down. This is not difficult:

1) Do not make your fare structure so complicated that it's impossible to understand. As a consumer, how do I know what the relative prices are? When should I fly? When not? Sadly, I have to be educated by the travel agents on the phone for 20 minutes about moronic fare classes that they usually don't understand. It's not like this is difficult, as Southwest Airlines has already figured it out: They list fare classes on their website in an easy to understand manner.

2) Do not make the frequent flyer program so complicated (and thus unuseful). Sadly, the frequent flyer program is completely useless because it's impossible to understand when you can use your miles to upgrade or get free tickets. I have 140k miles with United and it's impossible to use them unless I want to fly to Topeka in the middle of the summertime. Unsuprisingly, Southwest already figured this out as well. Fly 8 flights and you get one for free. Not hard.

3) Don't fly unprofitable routes. United has expanded beyond all belief and sanity. Having a larger network doesn't allow an airline to charge a premium, as consumers get it already and choose low-cost providers.

4) Don't let the inmates run the asylum. Allowing the employees to own the company is a huge mistake. Sadly, the inmates are more interested in making their own stay more enjoyable (with better pay), than making $$ for the shareholders and keeping customers happy. A full page ad in the Wall Street Journal isn't going to fix this issue. For example, United is the only airline that requires a licensed mechanic to "pushback" the airplanes from the gate. It's no wonder the airline is hemorraging money.

I could go on: the horrible meals, the printed paper tickets, the overblown airline magazine, etc. The stupidity of United is so overwhelming that I don't want to spend any more time thinking about this. Southwest airlines seems the only sane carrier around. I'm switching today.