So far all my 2012 UDU have cleared. Some at the gate. But I even cleared C0/D0 flights that were 0ed out weeks in advance.

Come on over...you will be glad you did...much as I have in the past 4 years. I made 1k last year because I flew C on LH and UA from JFK-GVA via FRA & MUC. I still fly most of my trips on AA. As a matter of fact, I did two MR in Jan (to qualify for the end of DEQM promo) to NRT and LHR by flying JFK-LAX-NRT, & JFK-LAX-LHR round trips. ALL my EVIP UPGRADE request cleared and I only paid $950 on average for both fares.....no W fare roulette wheel or GS voodoo tricks.

^^^

Since last year that's been my strategy: as soon as SWUs are to hand I start looking 6-9 months in advance for NC space, especially to Australia.

Thats why I am so peeved at UAs new "get your upgrades early" policy. If I hit 1K in Sept 2012, then for trips Oct-Dec 2013 I have to wait till the time in 2013 I make 1K, which gives me no lead time to snag those NC seats.

However, maybe by then I'll be flying AA!

You can use AA SWUs to Australia?

No, unfortunately. AA codeshares with Qantas on Australia routes. No AA metal.

Clarification: I meant that I might be flying another carrier. We do have a Qantas account for inter australia travels, as I like them better than VBlue.

Yes, that would mean BUYING business class...but we'll see. As other posters have said, stop the rat race and just make your selection based on service and schedule.

Can't beat the NS LIH-SFO shuttle, though.

I think this varies greatly by home airport and routes flown. With a BOS base, I fly mainly to SYD and SIN and have not found a dramatic change in upgrade availability. Certainly the premium for W fare over lowest available economy has increased a bit, but upgrade success has remained high (> 75%) for trips to SYD, moderate (50% or so) for trips to SIN via NRT and hopeless (<25%) for trips to SIN via HKG. Domestic upgrade success is close to 100% (I use SWU when these are part of an international itinerary, and use regional upgrade for flights longer than three hours.)

The current international business class product from United is really good, in my opinion. I think that the upgrade in the product justifies the increased premium for W fare and the slight decrease in upgrade success rate. Occasionally I am able to purchase discounted business class, but these days, United is never the lowest cost business fare. I think that is just what happens when the airline has a product that can compete on quality/value and not on price alone.

Systemwide upgrades
 

Would like but 3 RT economy tix and use 6 systemwide upgrades on a Europe trip this Xmas. Having trouble finding "upgrade available" on the return portion of BOI-LON/FCO-BOI. Any tips to help locate these seats?

Finding three seats on the same plane that you can immediately upgrade to business class will be hard. You might look at returning from a different city.

If you find NC space for three tickets at Xmas using 6 SWUs, go out and buy a lottery ticket or two!!!
Upgrades are harder (see here) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...er-2012-a.html
You need to be flexible about your dates and routing(s). And keep checking.

Why? Is business travel particularly heavy during the holidays? (Hint: no)

The point is well taken, but dependency on routes and dates is significant. I saw UA900 shoot to an NC9 around early September last year for Dec23rd, so I grabbed a seat immediately for my trip back to Europe, and I am quite sure I have NEVER seen UA900 do that before - ever. But I usually don't travel on Dec23rd, either. earlier in the week would have been considerably harder, I am quite sure.

MUC-ORD/IAD is relatively easier, FRA-SFO is hellish. ORD-LHR might be OK. It's probably too early to be seeing a lot of upgrade availability, but it really is something you will need to check several times a week. Book three separate tickets, and upgrade in reverse order of status, of course. Book Tue/Wed if at all possible. Someone is a 1K if you've got SWUs, and a good chance over the holidays for a gate upgrade if all else fails, I wouldn't sweat it if you can't confirm up front. Son/daughter/partner who is a GM is much less likely to upgrade, so they go first. That's about the long and short of it.

Given how far in advance you're looking for tickets, its quite likely UA just simply hasn't released any seats. As the departure date approaches, they tend to have more confidence that they won't be giving away a business class seat that could otherwise be sold.

UDU Windows
 

The 100 hour window for my next round of flights just came and went with the upgrades not clearing. 0/12 at the 100 hour window this year.

for both legs, the 100 hour window produced the following:
Flight 1 (SEA-ORD, 757) - pre-100 hour: F8/NF3. post-100 hour: F8/NF0
Flight 2 (ORD-IAD, 757) - pre-100 hour: F9/NF8. Post-100 hour F9/NF0

It appears that no one cleared at the 100 hour window even with NF>0. There is at least 1 1k on board (me). I changed from pending to wait-listed.

Oddly, my seats unassigned sometime this week. On catching this, I realized that there was no longer any E+ outbound. This didn't change at the 100 hour window, further evidence that no one cleared at the 100 hour window (the f9 could otherwise theoretically have gone from 15 to 10 and still show F9)

All that wind up for the following pitch - this is clearly the new norm; not clearing UDUs at the 100 hour window. I can still purchase an upgrade....

Is this the experience everyone else is having as well?? One concludes that this is about preserving F inventory to sell.

Did you look to see how many F seats went from unassigned to assigned? If there were others also without E+ seat assignments who got upgraded the lack of free E+ seats wouldn't be conclusive.

As for being able to purchase up to F, that shouldn't be surprising at all. They'll keep selling is so long as folks are buying. I'm guessing the folks buying last-minute seats on Y or B fares are quite happy to see some F inventory still around.