I have found chatting with UA websupport to work well (when they are staffed; seems they have agents some days/nights but not others).

https://www.united.com/ual/asset/UnitedChat.html?d=

At our upgrade window. So 100 hours for a 1K, 72 hours for a 1P, 48 hours for 2P.

Which means for a Platinum CO Elite, that we will clear at the earliest 72 hours prior, so long as all 1Ks and 1Ps have cleared.

Otherwise to the waitlist we will go.. hi ho! hi ho! .. to the waitlist we will go!

I'm not sure...if 1Ps get 72 hours, CO Plats would get that or just below that. I would assume somewhere between 48 and 72.

If you want to further torture yourself, you can look at udustats.com for your chances of upgrades for a given route.

Based on current udustats.com data, it looks like a CO Plat should clear about 60% of the time overall (before programs become one).

Hmm, I guess i'll see if those stats hold true for me

Don't forget about the dreaded: Upgrade: Denied = When your upgrade didn't clear at the window, and F is sold out.

Ahh yes, they also had that as a bug a few months ago with UDU showing Denied and it meant nothing. There were lots of reported Upgrade: Denied people getting confirmed later.

Is it also a bug having the option to buy E+ even though I was automatically assigned an E+ seat already?

I flew united yesterday and also when I checked in it also said upgrade pending. When I went to the airport my name was on the display at the gate on upgrade standby list.

UPDATE

Just spoke with a UA Service Director. CO Elites can now use the UDU system...kinda sorta.

Basically, agents have to manually perform every step in the UDU process when a CO elite number is involved (instead of relying solely on the automation). UA agents have to manually add CO Elites to the UDU system. And once the UDU system processes the upgrade, a UA rep than has to manually "clean up" the reservation so only the upgraded space remains in the record (the cleanup is necessary to avoid error messages during OLCI or kiosk check-in).

Put another way, the "current UDU process is basically the old way we COers received mileage upgrades that weren't immediately available (call to waitlist, check on website, call back once cleared) -- except, there's no miles involved. ;)

Any word on whether they are doing immediate upgrades on B and Y fares? I have a flight to LA next week and would prefer to fly out of PHL rather than EWR.

On UA? UA doesn't do Y/B-Ups for their own members.

The question is whether they'll stay or go going forward.

Thanks. For the newbies like me, UDU is "Unlimited Domestic Upgrades."