Unfortunately, I'm not sure you can avoid this devolving into an argument of Full Fare v. Discount.

Either all PremExes/1K are alike, or they're not. For a given number of NC/NF seats, if one is reserved for someone to book 24 hours prior to departure, the traveler who got on the list 73 hours ahead gets penalized. I never travel AA/CO, so I don't know how their system works, but do they get you the upgrade b/c they allot more inventory for upgrades, or because they do something special for FF travelers?

Also, some of those people who requested the upgrade 73/101 hours in advance are also traveling on full fare tix. Unless UA increases the inventory of NC seats, or they punish (and that's how it would be interpreted) travelers on discounted seats, I'm not sure how to compromise.

(Note though, that this is inconsistent with my argument re: 1K status, that says pax should reach levels faster if they are on full revenue tix. This, however, doesn't assume the rigidly fixed quantity of the desired good, e.g., 24 F seats on a given 757)

Greg