Wife and I flew IAD-DEN last Friday and returned last Monday. We had waitlisted upgrades outbound. When we checked in, I asked what the queue looked like. The agent pulled the 500-milers and then checked! It obviously wasn't going to happen (A320, 6th in queue, "sold out"...I think they had 1 no-show) so when I got to the RCC I asked them to cancel the upgrade request and put in upgrade requests for Monday (B777). Since it was already in the 72 hour window, they were confirmed. Then I sweated the question posed...how quick would the 500-milers be redeposited. I wasn't able to check on-line until Saturday nightand they were back by then. Maybe the RCC agent made it happen quicker than usual? or maybe it is "immediate". Certainly no excuse for it not to be. Flight has departed and passenger wasn't upgrade...not rocket science to check those facts and redeposit instantly.

Check-in agent was quite nice, but I was annoyed that it was pull first and then check the queue.