Babymule

I just experienced a mile award clearing before my GPUs. My mother, husband and I are flying to PEK and returning HKG. I only had 4 GPUs left. To give my non-status mother, the best chance of upgrading, I put her on my reservation and used my GPUs for her and I. I then had my mother use her miles to upgrade my husband's ticket. Due to my million mile status, my husband has my 1K status, so, there are essentially 3, 1Ks waiting for an upgrade. My husband has cleared the upgrade list on the miles upgrade HKG to SFO and my mom and I are still in coach. All 3 of us have V fares on that leg of the flight. I booked our tickets first, so "technically" we would be waitlisted first. We still have plenty of time before our November flight, yet I'm left wondering how many more times will mile awards clear over the GPUs? And, would it have been better to book all 3 tickets separately to give all of us the best chance to upgrade?