This really is the heart of this change. I have started considering SWUs worthless a few years ago, since the ability to upgrade an international flight at the time of booking became so rare. As a result, I have been using both SWUs and CR1s for domestic flights only (and many of mine just expire from non-use). My employer buys me $7k+ tickets for my 4-5 international flights per year, but since Z fares cannot be upgraded and the J fares are so ludicrously high on UA I just fly on CX, SQ, BA, etc. Now that the upgrades can't readily be used domestically (without lots of lengthy, annoying phone calls), what really is their value? For me, they are nearly worthless at this point...