This airline simply does not care about overall loyalty. CPU "if available" for 1K means if after every attempt we could not sell it, oh, and only if there's not a mileage kettle waiting for the seat. And by the way, they sent emails to my GM travel companion like crazy "Upgrade now with miles!" etc I mean, it's the priority that's ridiculous if anything.
People aren't idiots, and lots of people recognize that the combined airline doesn't care about loyalty one bit beyond paying lip service.
i don't trust the CPU process to work even as advertised. There are so many exceptions and other 'programs' running at the same time that you could be #1 with 6 seats left at T-23 and still not get the upgrade.
upgrade rates for 1K's of 75%+ on UA on non-'impossible' routes (SFO-BOS, PS, SFO/LAX-IAD) were pretty common, and on the CO plat side, 75% was a pretty reasonable rate, again, for non-hub-hub and transcon) Given my own observations, and anecdotal evidence from others, I'd say the same routes, even excluding the new hub-hub routes, experience at LEAST a 50% drop in CPU/UDU/EUA upgrade success.
I have seen little evidence that this is a problem that management A) recognizes exits, or B) would even care about fixing.
and as an additional observation, they've made the domestic dining experience so lousy lately that I wouldn't be surprised if it even pisses off the kettles who upgrade for $39 ahead of a 1K. "I paid $39 to get this greasy piece of junk, I paid 99c for something just like it at the 7-11"