United Airlines dirt-cheap airfare...what am I missing?

We flew UA many times from the UK to Dulles - they were in and out of Chapter 11 (mainly in) for a long time, their staff were demotivated and, at times, downright rude. Bless 'em, many seemed just worn out and downtrodden. Food wasn't great, as far as I recall.

We switched to Virgin and stayed with them since. Not the very best of airlines, but head and shoulders above United. 

The new Basic Economy is going to debut in Q1 2017 (as its own selling class) for flights that will operate starting in Q2 2017.  There are just some really good deals out there right now. 

As for United, I've flown them internationally many, many times as Houston is a hub for them.  They are fine, though like everything better in Business class.  Be sure and check Seat Guru to make sure the seats on your aircraft are good ones. 

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I was just reading that they are getting backlash for their new Economy. Apparently it's non-transferable, no upgrades allowed, and no Carry-on other than your purse/laptop bag. And you can't choose your seat, which could be problematic for some.

Delta and American are going the same route at some point I read as well.

Sometimes I get crazy rates with United or American that are a lot lower than their competitors. I think the worst that's happened when I couldn't select a seat right away is that I had to go to the gate agent and ask for seats together. They're usually pretty nice about accommodating people who are flying with a child.

That being said, United flights have been pretty miserable for the last 12-18 months. You pay for everything extra, they're enforcing carry-on rules much more strictly (which I don't mind since I'm tired of hunting for space in the overhead when people are putting oversized bags, coats, and anything else that they should be putting underneath their seat) and I feel like prices on food/drinks have gone up while quality gets worse. I traveled with United enough to reach one of the lower status levels at one point and I doubt I'll ever come close to hitting that mark again because I avoid booking with them if I can help it.

I've flown the opposite way - out of Edinburgh to the USA - maybe a dozen times with United (and Continental before them). I've never had any problems with them. Well, once my suitcases went to the wrong place, but that isn't necessarily the airline's fault. Quite a few times, I've been really lucky and saved hundreds of pounds by flying midweek, and being flexible with my dates.
So I don't think you're missing anything. Grab those tickets now!

I've flown internationally with them - Toronto to Houston to Honolulu to Guam to Palau. Granted, things change but we had no problems whatsoever.

We flew them from Houston to Paris and from Amsterdam back to Houston last spring. It's definitely not comfy back there in coach, but it wasn't terrible, either. I know we had a meal on the return trip but I think none on the trip over, which was a red-eye.

I would double check to be sure you're not in a row that doesn't recline or some such thing. That would be miserable on a long flight.

Much of it depends on what airport you are going out of.  If you are like me and trying to fly out of IAH, good luck as the deals for us are few and far between.  I get daily updates from The Flight Deal so that I can know when fare deals are there.  I've noticed that some airports seem to have fare deals quite often.  There are times that the fare difference is so great that it pays for us to drive to Austin or Dallas and fly from there.  Also, use Google Flights and you will be able to see the fares by day on the calendar.  The difference in price between just a day or two can be huge! 
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That's about what I paid for tix from Dallas to Paris. It was booked through United, but two of the legs were through Air Canada and I couldn't choose seats or really get much info at all about those legs.

We had two very short stops on the way there--hardly enough time to make it through customs in Canada. We were literally running to our gate. On the way home we have a long layover in Toronto, and I just learned that we have to retrieve our checked bags in Houston before our final flight home to Dallas--so I hope we have enough time for that. (We're at the airport in Paris waiting for our flight home now.)

No other surprises. We were offered food on all legs and allowed carry-ons (but I think we bought our tix before the change). The Air Canada planes were pretty nice.