Yes you're right for us UA'ers this is something totally new. I recently requested a refund of 17,500 miles for my boss for an CO upgrade award she ended up not using because she took a different flight. She's gold..and they told me there would be a redeposit fee of $100 which came as quite a surprise to me as on UA there is no such thing for upgrade awards. But she did say the award could be re-used on another flight later. So we just left it that way and now I have to remember she has that award sitting out there somewhere that needs to be re-used.