I am planning a trip with a few friends, and I'm trying to get feedback on the best approach to maximize the upgrade and baggage benefits for everyone. I am DM, and two companions have no status. Here's the breakdown of how I'm thinking we should buy the tickets. I will be person A, and the two non-status companions will be B and C. No tickets have been purchased yet. Assume these will be revenue tickets, not booked in basic economy, and all on DL metal.

Ticket 1: One way CHS - JFK
A buys ticket with B, C buys ticket alone
A and B get Comfort+ at booking and maybe first on upgrade, C gets no seat benefit
A and B get free bags, C gets no free bags


Ticket 2: Round trip open jaw JFK - AMS / ATH - JFK
Option 1
A buys ticket with B, C buys ticket alone and links PNR to A
Everyone gets free bags since it is International
A and B get Comfort+ at booking, C gets no seat benefit
A applies and clears a GUC on JFK - AMS to D1, B retains Comfort+ seat, C gets no seat benefit
A applies and clears GUCs for A, B, and C on ATH - JFK to D1
---Not sure if I can clear 3 GUCs on one flight, or if I can only apply to one companion on a flight; DM line agent I spoke to seemed to indicate it would be possible, but website language seems less encouraging

Option 2
A buys ticket with B, C buys ticket alone and links PNR to A
Everyone gets free bags since it is International
A and B get Comfort+ at booking, C gets no seat benefit
A applies GUCs for A and B on JFK - AMS and clear into D1, C gets no seat benefit
A applies GUCs for A and C on ATH - JFK and clears into D1, B retains Comfort+ seat
---I think this should work for applying the GUCs as C would just need to be PNR linked to A's ticket to be eligible for a GUC upgrade


Ticket 3: One way JFK - CHS
A buys ticket with C, B buys ticket alone
A and C get Comfort+ at booking and maybe first on upgrade, B gets no seat benefit
A and C get free bags, B gets no free bags


Does that sound like the optimal way to get my friends some benefit from my status? I'm interested in hearing people's feedback on the GUC portion. Any experiences clearing three GUCs on one flight? Any issues clearing a GUC for a companion not on the same ticket? Is the PNR link even necessary for the GUC to be applied to a person not on the same ticket? Any other gotchas I might be missing?