Having been UA elites for about 4 years (usually either Premier Platinum or Premier 1K) and I want to say that I have a feeling upgrades work worse in UA than in AA. For long haul international flights I have been flying with AA from US to Germany last year during Jan and Feb 5 times and all my flights got upgraded through SWU. But none of the UA flights this year (flew 4 times already, all booked with eligible upgradable fare class) I wonder whether people have the same feeling? I also found UA flights are much more occupied....
people have the same feeling? I am in the middle of deciding my flights for February now...