Here's my recent TPAC experience. UA had a schedule change so I had to call to get re-accommodated. I had applied an SWU to the old segments and none had cleared, and fortunately UA let me choose other flights, one of which had R inventory. End result was I was booked into R on one flight and itinerary showed "R class requested" for the other 2 flights. Interesting, the SWU was re-deposited into my account at the same time.

Move forward several weeks and I've been watching R inventory closely. This morning, I see R3 on one flight but haven't been upgraded. Called UA and it took the agent 10 minutes to figure out that the upgrade request had been processed incorrectly. She said it was good I called in because those 2 flights would have never been upgraded. She had to re-apply the SWU that had been deposited. I'm now confirmed in F/J on 2 of my 3 flights.

Sorry to hear about your ordeal, RockinRon.