It appears that something is definitely going on with SOME CO flights and that EUA may be being bypassed and manipulated in SOME cases.
The following flights are within 35 to 1 hour and 10 minutes from departure. The curent time is 11:04 EDT. Remember that these are lunch flights on a Wednesday:
CO 148 EWR-SFO Dep 12:10 A9F0
CO1726 EWR-SAN Dep 11:40 A5F0
CO1281 EWR-SEA Dep 12:05 A9F0
Note that I got the same results when I checked ITN. Also note that other lunch flights I checked (all within the 3 hour EUA run) including EWR to IAH and CLE and FLL mostly showed the expected A0FO.
So it looks like we have the worst of all worlds. The changes don't really show a reliable pattern yet, and EUA is now totally unreliable for some city pairs at some times on some days.
I also suspect that the recent reports of some flights going out only 1/2 full in FC is also related to the non-EUA release of A seats, resulting in some elites sitting in the back because of lazy/overworked gate agents who can't be bothered upgrading 5-10 people at the last minute. And then the question would be, if they had the time, what method would they use to do the upgrades? Or is it at their discretion? (Worst situation of all).
I have no problem with CO doing this, AS LONG AS they make an announcement. Not doing so, however, borders on unethical, IMO.