That language is not as fool proof as people make it out to be. But seeing as that UAL management of 30 years ago (when the airline industry and regionals in particular with their code-sharing were an entirely different animal) got burned on it, they may be shy depending on how bad they want it. They can just pay off the AFA and get it changed.

I'm not saying it's going to happen. I'm just saying that there are at least two ways to make it happen if UAL really wants to.