Originally Posted by StuckInYYZ

I don't see why it would be AC's fault. It's an automated process with a third party company (you'll note AC isn't the company placing the charge, it's Plusgrade). I'm assuming an initial winner email is sent out.... then the charge is made and then a confirmation email.... (never having done this) if the charge fails, send the failed email and move onto the next winner. Whole process probably takes 5 seconds per passenger. Considering the number of companies and flights Plusgrade works with, this would not be an unreasonable assumption. The whole process would be out of AC's control. By the time the OP made the call to AC all the upgrades would have been processed and assigned.