COPA Upgrades Not Clearing?
 

On a flight Friday morning as a 1K but no upgrades have cleared yet for my companion or myself. ExpertFlyer shows plenty of availability (8 seats on 1st Leg, 9 on second leg) in the I fare bucket. Is this normal?

Yes. CM typically clears beginning at 24 hours and sometimes holds everything to the gate. They don't really follow what the website says about 96, 72, etc. And forget about ever getting an "instant upgrade" on a Y/B/M fare.

One of the reasons I stopped flying them.

Do they have any issues following through on the companion upgrades or is my Girlfriend just going to be stuck in Y? (Lets be honest, that means I'm going to be stuck in Y). I ask, because there is still probably time for her to do a United match to Silver which she would easily finish with this trip.

I have had troubles with COPA upgrading when there is a companion, whether or not the companion has status. It is like the issue United has where it needs to split the reservations to upgrade people.

Once the PNRs are separated, upgrading works fine. But this has definitely cost me upgrades on my first leg.

I might suggest calling COPA and asking them to split the PNR. However, Copa phone reps are pretty terrible. You might need to be very explicit.

Wouldn't splitting the PNR kill any chance of my no status companion getting any kind of upgrade?

I'd like to know that too. The companion has no status.

I m pretty sure I'll clear as 1K, but can I add the companion at gate?

I managed to get two upgrades for a companion on different PNR just a few weeks ago. He had no status while I am platinum.