I hear you on the international flight UG dillema. Flying from Guam, I can't check in online either. So I hardly get upgrades when I get to the mainland. Almost all the upgrades I got this summer were on a separate ticket with completely domestic travel. I'll be flying from BOS-EWR-NRT-GUM so there is no chance to check in online for bonus miles and definitely no chance for upgrades anywhere there--probably not even the BOS-EWR segment. Oh well. I enjoyed the upgrades I got so far.

It does make sense to have all the upgrades just processed at the gate. That way each elite level gets their status taken into account. It's always a pleasant surprise.