As I have said elsewhere, I'm a newly reminted 1K after a ~15 year hiatus. I vaguely recall when travelling with Mrs. PATRLR years ago PNR splitting causing us some headaches. I'd like to be sure I'm not about to get another headache...

Here is the situation:

• Mrs PATRLR is a GM, I'm 1K. Flying tomorrow (so within T-24 and we have checked in) BDL-ORD and then ORD-MSY.
• BDL-ORD, 1 J seat available and we are 1 and 2 on upgrade list using just CPU.
• ORD-MSY, 1 J seat available, we were 3 & 4 with CPU. After check in, I applied Plus points. Now we are 1&2 on the upgrade list.

Our return flights are on a separate PNR

I assume at this point our PNR has been split, is that right? And from reading posts here, the risk might only be in the event of IRROPs. Is that right?

If just one of us gets upgraded BDL-ORD, will that have any affect on the ORD-MSY upgrades? I seem to recall years ago, single upgrade on first leg caused the GM to fall off the upgrade list on the second leg (or something like that).

And of course, what have I missed here, is there something else I should be aware of or concerned about in this situation?

Thanks in advance!