To close the loop on my post above, I DID get the OpUp on EWR-Asia. PremPlus was overbooked by 5 but it's hard for me to say how many got the OpUp. I know of two..myself (1K) and the guy before me at the podium who handed in his BP to ask for a seat assignment (he was UA Gold).

The Polaris cabin was still blocked to 5. Two of the waitlisted upgrades were already in the PremPlus cabin. However, I only saw one of their seats open on the map when they were upgraded. The other never showed which was odd. Someone then got the seat that appeared on the seat map.

I never showed on the Polaris upgrade list with a checkmark (I didn't expect to). The only way I knew I was upgraded is through looking at my reservation on the mobile app and seeing my seat assignment. The flight was already boarding group 3 before I was able to reach the podium and get a BP. The mobile app wouldn't give me one. The flight still credited as "R" class (no problem with me).

-RM