I am flying from JFK-NRT-BKK this Thursday, October 7th. I waitlisted using SWUs for upgrades both ways.

Today I checked my itinerary on ual.com and found that I've been upgraded on the JFK-NRT leg, but for NRT-BKK it said "upgrade denied". When I called United I found that the upgrade list has been closed and was told that was because no more seats are available. First of all, there are seats available for purchase, and secondly, why wouldn't they just keep the waitlist open until checkin at NRT and then close it once all the seats have filled?

Any advice on what to do? Maybe I should just be relieved I cleared JFK-NRT.

Thanks all.