Originally Posted by blue2002
BTW, I do have status, so that is not a problem. Both AC employees I talked to mentioned that this ability to do stand-by upgrades is part of (new?) Star Alliance rules.
Two reasons why they said that:
They are most likely thinking about the new Star Alliance upgrade certs given to UK *S/*G members. They permit upgrades from H or higher on most *A carriers on a standby basis.
They got confused and should have said that if you're booked on a UA codeshare flight operated by AC, then you could upgrade on a standby basis provided that your fare is equivalent using AC certs. (Since this can't be done in advance)