Some tips or tricks please from the die-hard 1Kers??

I have a bunch of SWUs that are coming due and i probably won't use them for anything besides domestic upgrades ... so my good friend tells me that he's going to London for a few weeks and i want to hook him up with a flight in style.

I called the 1k line and told them my friend's name, his ticket number, etc. She told me that i had to "go to an airport and prove my identity" and they'd give his ticket my SWUs.

So on my next trip through ORD, i stopped at the CSR table and told them the story. She said "oh no, you don't need to do this ... just give your friend your MP number and then it'll confirm at his checkin".

we went back and forth on the story > but she was pretty clear that because he paid for his ticket and my SWU was just an upgrade ... it wouldn't be an issue.

So two nights ago, he gets to ORD and checks-in and asks the counter if the upgrade cleared. She had no idea about it, so he buzzes me and i talk to her and say "hook him up - here's my MP number, take it from my account". She wouldn't do it because

here is a real quote "she had no way to verify if that was really me on the other line."

I got really frustrated and asked a bunch of more questions, but it was a done deal. just retarded.

So ... a few tips: If i want to make sure that he gets the 1st class on his return flight in 3 weeks ... what should i have done to apply MY SWUs to HIS ticket?

Thanks for any tips.

I'm not sure why these SWUs have to work under any different mechanism than other upgrades. just seems silly. One minute, it's Fort Knox, the next it's no big deal, the next it's 'who are you - can you prove it'.

bizzarre.