Originally Posted by
akonradi
In my experience, yes. I've never had any trouble with it. The problem is when you get an agent that has no clue what he/she is doing, which occurs quite often in this scenario; stick to making the change at OLCI or a kiosk, and it will work out. While the website fails frequently, it does know to properly implement these policies.
FWIW, this has also been my experience when using miles/PU503s to upgrade. SDC puts you into your ticketed class of service, which should reflect the ticket's status at its most recent point of (re)issue.
On this I have been told otherwise, but in IROPs, agents have tried hard and succeeded in finding BE space for me. I recently had an IROPs event that could have technically been viewed as SDCing back to my original SWUed flight and there was never a hint that I wasn't supposed to get a FC seat.
I think the rule is supposed to be that you SDC into your purchased class of service, where purchased includes award tickets.