Greetings - though I am not a big fan of Continental (you may have seen my gripes in other forums) - they just have the best routes. So, I'm looking to book a multiple point ticket and would like to use miles to upgrade. The trip will go like this: EWR-MSY-FCO-EWR.. I have about 100k one pass miles and about 200k delta skymiles. My questions regarding this are:

1. I noticed the checkbox on continental.com to only search upgradable classes. Checking this I've found a good itinerary. Now, what is the current process of using miles to upgrade. Is it processed right away? Do I need to call on the phone and talk to the CSR about availability of upgrade seats?

2. Can I use my delta skymiles in the same way to do the upgrades?