Tomorrow will be my second international flight in March post merger; my husband has also flown two international segments. We are 0 for 3 now for upgrades. The likelihood of an upgrade for me tomorrow is poor, despite being a 1K on a Y fare. Since I have a refundable ticket I can use different routings with connecting flights, but no there is not one available European gateway with an available upgrade. On top of that, I can't seem to maintain my economy plus seat in the row I want, and United hasn't returned my unused system wide upgrade or my husband's miles. At this point the benefit of my 1k status appears to be United drink coupons (I think they actually come with silver premier status) and less time on hold to resolve constant problems. Agents sympathize with my plight and several have told me to complain to United. I will try again but so far the customer service complaint route has proved totally ineffective. I am disheartened (and dreading tomorrow's flight).
If you have a Y ticket, can't you call Reservations and cash it in for a Z ticket, since you KNOW that you're flying tomorrow? Unless you need flexibility on your return date, I would!
I used to do that a lot, but there have to be some cheaper fare class seats left of course, to make it economically viable. All they should charge your credit card for is the difference in fare; not do a refund, and then issue a new ticket.
I know that you probably want to use the GPUs you've earned but I don't know how useful they're going to be in the new UA. It's early, so we'll have to see how successful people are with them. In my view, overwater segments are so long, you might want to save your GPU lottery for a shorter trip and "buy" your upgrade, so to speak..