I have reviewed a good bit of the 'how complimentary upgrades work' thread and not seeing the answer I'm looking for.

Wife and I are both MVPG. In the same PNR. NOT using a companion certificate. Does this hurt our upgrade chances? I.E. Do we get skipped over if there is only 1 complimentary upgrade seat available? I think the answer is yes, and my anecdotal evidence seems to indicate such.

Should two equal level elites always book separately or split the PNRs if they want the best chance of complimentary upgrades?