UA solicits upgrade for $$, but then waitlists
I'll confess ignorance at the start - I don't understand how upgrades work these days (it has been a long time since I got one). Recently booked a flight SFO-CDG for me (gold) and spouse (silver. ) K Class fare, on a Tuesday in October. At conclusion of booking, was asked if I wanted to upgrade from E+ to BusinessFirst for $$ + 20,000 miles each. (Would this be considered a TOD upgrade?) I clicked Yes, but then got the message that we were waitlisted for the upgrade, on a list that would expire at T-24. Questions: Will all 1-Ks and platinums get upgraded before us, even though UA is charging us $$ for the upgrade? That would mean there is next to no chance that we will get upgraded. (Now, 14 of 30 seats are available for purchase; tomorrow's flight shows 2 seats available for purchase in Business; flights in a few days show zero seats.) If my guess is correct, it would appear that UA's offering of upgrades for $$ when there are not seats to be had, is a scheme for UA to bank passengers' $$ until they get around to making refunds. Considering all the pax that would buy upgrades, that could amount to many $$ millions per year of float that UA gets to keep in the bank or use as working capital.