Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: New York, NY
Programs: UA, AA, DL, Hertz, Avis, National, Hyatt, Hilton, SPG, Marriott
Posts: 9,452
Many experienced agents took early outs during the pandemic, which caused to vanish a lot of institutional knowledge and familiarity with "native" SHARES, through which a command can be manually entered to add an off-PNR companion (of a given status tier) to the upgrade list at the airport. This was the approved method for companion upgrades (Gold and higher) in the CO days. Thus, most agents who are familiar with the process are former CO, but plenty of UA people picked it up in the post-merger timeframe as well. Now, with newer agents who are substantially only trained on the GUI overlays, which automate most functions but do not provide for manual, off-PNR companion upgrades, there are fewer agents who are able to do this.
Moral of the story: it's still technically possible but not actually an approved/published way to list companion upgrades. Grab bag/YMMV with agents.