Another data point....

I took my HP Gold status over to UA and was comped to 1P (Premier Executive - mid tier) status. I sent an email to Mileage Plus requesting the status match and they responded asking me to fax a copy of my most recent HP statement to the center in Tucson. I faxed a copy of my online account summary from HP, a short letter explaining my desire to fly UA for long haul and international, and a copy of the email that MP sent to me on Monday 1/3. I logged into my MP account today (Sunday) and found my status updated to 1P (changed since yesterday).

... the fact that I have 25,000BIS miles scheduled for January may have helped