I am not sure what UA's written policy is with regards to your situation. However, I have come to expect the following: if there was upgrade inventory (NC) on the re-scheduled flight(s) then I would expect my upgrade(s) to clear immediately, and if there was no upgrade inventory available then I would expect to be added to the waitlist, with no particular priority status (other than that accorded me due to my FF status). I wish this were not the case, but this is what I would expect to happen even with vocal protestation on my part. (I would expect UA to try to re-route my along a path that would yield the best possibility of upgrades but this might be wishful thinking?) One exception: in the case of an advanced schedule change, say dropping HKG-SIN and re-routing via NRT, I would expect UA to "protect" my upgrades regardless of the availability of upgrade inventory. I have experienced this in practice, although the schedule changes took place months prior to departure.

Sorry, I should have added: that ORD-HKG direct flight is usually pretty heavily loaded as it is one of the more desireable flights (gets to HKG in the afternoon, shortest travel time) for us East-coasters. You could ask to go via SFO?

[This message has been edited by transpac (edited 01-31-2002).]