I'm almost at the end of my Delta status match challenge. I got upgraded a ton more than I did with United Platinum, but it's looking like I'll get gold instead of platinum for the rest of the year. Also it's clear it will be way harder to hit status compared to Delta because with United there would be some crazy expensive last minute ticket that would up my status miles since it was purely dollar based and Delta is only distance.
Oh well, LGA and JFK are way more convenient than EWR.