I just returned from a trip to SYD with UA, and I thought I noticed much more attention to accounting and upgrade practices recently -- has anyone else noticed this?

In particular, the agents were very scrupulous when checking whether the fares were upgradeable, asking how the upgrade would be supported, and not giving any hint of the chance of operational upgrades. In fact, talking to the LAX agent before the Sydney flight, she said that recently, operational upgrades have been nearly non-existent (almost definitely the case when Y is not full).

Is the accounting department feeling the crunch? Or putting it on other divisions?