My last 2 flights, while waiting in the gate I have recieved a page well before the 20 minute cutoff and was asked to approach the counter. When I got there (both times) they told me that they were about to announce that First Class had checked in full, but not to worry that it did not apply to me, and to please ignore the annoucement and stay in the gate area. It really cut down on the number of pax approaching the agents every 2 minutes to ask if they were on the upgrade list.

I know that it would be much easier if they could just adopt ORD's method of putting the seat numbers of those who should wait on the screen, but overall I found it effective for getting the plane out on time as lees people waited around the gate. And it was nicer than hearing over the PA, "Only Mr. Auh2o has a chance at to UG today" as I felt it made the other pax less edgy if they thought there were no UG's at all.