Did I just screw over my non-elite friend on the return flight: Split PNR at check-in
First time dealing with having a PNR that included both myself (premier gold) and my friend (non-elite) since the merger. During online check-in, there was this question about asking if I wanted to split the PNR to get an upgrade. Or something along those lines... in hindsight I wish I read it better. But essentially, I clicked OK and our PNR got split into two, and we both got put on the upgrade standby list, so I thought nothing of it.
I've since been confirmed for my upgrade, and my friend is still first on the upgrade standby list, so I'm not too worried about our outbound flight. What I am worried about though is the return flight. When the PNR was split, did it still assign her my gold status? I'm guessing not, since when I go into her PNR, economy plus seats cost $$. So what happens when the return flight comes around: is she now not eligible to be put on the upgrade list, since her PNR has been split off from mine? Or does the system know to still automatically add her to the upgrade list with premier gold status?
And as a sidenote: did I mess this up, or is the site just confusing as hell? Was I supposed to refuse the PNR split during online check-in? The way it was phrased made it seem like we would be turning down our UDU option if I opted out of splitting.