My dh was on a Y fare this past sunday flt 28 . He rec'd an email at the 24 hour mark that his waitlist did not clear.......1st flew with 3 empty seats!
This was the night of the storm, there was not 1 empty seat in the rear and lots of people left behind at the gate that would have loved his seat had his upgrade cleared.
Can't CO do something about collecting the taxes associated with the upgrade (like they do the miles) and refund if it doesn't clear (like the miles). At least I'm assuming that is why they don't clear intl upgrades past the 24 hour mark...please correct me if I'm wrong.