We are nearing the end of the first month of the new eUpgrade program and I am really getting frustrated with it to the point where I have booked Z for two of my next three overseas trips. Here are some of the reasons for my frustration:

1. The windows. It used to be that you can request an upgrade after midnight of the 7/4/2 days window. That was a fixed time that everyone understood and it worked very well. With the strict enforcement of the 168/96/24 hour rule, you have to remember your flight time to the micro-second. Since the micro-second can kick in at any time you may need a Blackberry in the car as well as an understanding police officer.

2. I just cannot understand why they ask you to indicate if you might request an upgrade when you are booking and not carry the information forward through to the upgrade window. You request an upgrade when you book. You are granted one/waitlisted, depending on availability, when your window opens.

3. The connecting flight stuff is just incredible. You may have in excess of three windows to juggle especially when on-line on a temperamental website. Ever tried contacting the website agent when you have a problem?

4. The eUpgrade arithmetic is annoying. I am forever calculating how many certs I have and how many I need for the next flight. There are pieces of upgrades lying around, none enough to do anything with regardless of fare class. And before you start lecturing me on eUpgrade economics, since January, I have purchased M, S, Z, C and J fares. They refuse to be clear on how many of your certs they will keep if you are not upgraded for a portion of your iternary or how many they will demand if because of arithmetic uncertainty you do not request an upgrade for the local and international portions of an overseas trip at the same time.

5. Part 2 of the annoying arithmetic is the award of certs in units of fives and tens and the charge back in random units in which 5 and 10 hardly appear.

6. Then came the widely advertised "sharing". I thought that sharing as advertised included fractional parts e.g. a spouse could transfer some points to his/her partner to top up. No, sharing means sponsorship. A spouse can only sponsor an upgrade as a whole not a fraction. Fractional shares could have eased some parts of frustration #5.

Yeah, you may think you know the answers to my frustration. Stop. What you think is the answer may not be. Talk to two agents and you get three different answers.