Originally Posted by
mahasamatman
It was unclear whether the clause you put in the first point applied to the second as well.
It was clear I was specifically referencing *my* experience, but fair enough, it never hurts to clarify.
That has always been the case when IM opens space up one seat at a time. That appears (on the surface) to be what happened and that's the reason to split PNRs when you're waitlisted for upgrades. Of course, splitting PNRs with non-elites on them has its own set of problems...
Yes, all points correct, except for this case was not affected by NF# released. Even if they released NF9, I would not get upgraded (I suspect) because the other members of my party were not eligible.
When there is >1 other non-elite on the PNR, you can request an INDIVIDUAL upgrade request on check-in. So, one might assume that NF1 would get you that seat after check-in. Hence my original question, is if there is one seat open, as the only elite on a 6 pax PNR, do I get the upgrade? The answer is no, not until the 30 min before departure at the gate. If I was on a 2 pax total PNR, we'd both be eligible for upgrades and if NF2 became available before the gate, we'd get upgraded.
In short, UA does not allow the single elite from a multi-pax PNR to upgrade until 30 minutes before the gate in my experience, even though the gate list might show you as high in the order, and even though on check-in you can request a single upgrade for yourself.