First, know there are Y and Y-up fares. Crazy I know. It sounds like you are on a Y-up fare according to the second person you talked to. Quickly, not ALL Y's get you up front (though most do). In addition, there are B-up and M-up fares that sometime will get you up front "at time of ticketing".

I have found that unless you book the ticket on nwa.com it can take up to 24 hours for the UG sweep to run to catch a Y-up, B-up, M-up fares.

For example, I book through a travel agency with my company. Once I'm ticketed (have a e-ticket number on the reservation, which can take 4 hours) then for the EUA sweep to run before I'm confirmed in P class. (x-up fares book into P, not R). I find that the sweep usually runs between 7-10am. YMMV. So if you have access to a fare-tool like Expert Flyer or KVS, maybe take a look into the P bucket.

However, since you bought this on nwa.com, it's odd that it didn't do it automatically at the time of ticketing (right after you purchase). Maybe it has to do with your CO status. If it doesn't happen today by 10am ET, might be worth a follow-up call. From what we've been told, the sweeps run every couple hours. I've purchased B-up's and been upgraded within a couple hours in the afternoon. Some happen the next day.

Hope this helps!