On CO, if you are not elite, you can only upgrade from Y, H, K, N, or B fares. These are the expensive ones. If you are elite you can upgrade on any fare.
On DL I believe the eligable fares for upgrading are Y, B and M, also their expensive ones.
On NW you can only upgrade on Y & B fares for TATL/TPAC flights; there are fewer restrictions for domestic US, but there are still some.
I have no idea how the other SkyTeam carriers play the game.
S.