At the DO, management made it clear they have no plans to make changes to the structure of OP, including how upgrades are processed. A certain trust has been established between the FT crew and CO management since the dawn of the DO era - I find it highly unlikely they would lie about their plans to us.

If a fundamental change was in the works, but an announcement was premature, it's likely they would have deferred comment rather than stated no changes were planned.

I'm sticking to my theory that we will not see recip upgrades, but perhaps simplified 15K domestic upgrade award booking and confirmation on both the CO and UA websites when making reservations on each other's metal.

Upgrading a PS flight from Y to C for 15K might turn out to be the biggest bang for the buck unless they explicitly keep PS flights out of the upgrade program or require more miles.