Government fares are frustrating things. I travel occasionally on gov't fares and have had to go through machinations to try to stay on UA. Now actually, it's almost impossible to get from SFO-any DC airport on a gov't fare. The only option is SFO-BWI which is over 3 times as expensive as SFO-Dulles on Virgin America. Hopefully, UA will bid on their new direct route to DCA! I also use California Y fares from time to time which actually (were) very reasonably priced for international travel.

For the main point of this thread:
In the past gov't fares were excluded from the Y-up program on UA. Is the conclusion that they're now treated just like any other Y fare for upgrade purposes? I've noticed they're still excluded from most promotions, but that's fine with me.