emcampbe

My wife and I are flying ex-US-NRT-BKK later this year, and I'd like to upgrade the NRT-BKK (and return) segments using miles (and copay). Most of my travel is domestic/to Canada, so I've never attempted upgrading international before (or with miles), but hoping I could get some advice from those with more experience.

Outbound is in mid-December (a Wed) with the return on New Year's day (a Tues.). Both flights are on a 744 (one of the reasons I really want to upgrade is I prefer to spend as little time as possible in the back of a UA 747 - I have purposely avoided these planes on TPAC legs. And both have 9s for all biz buckets currently, except, of course, for R, which is also 0 for both. Purchased fare class is W - I'm a gold, my wife is silver, but I'd use miles from my account. So to the questions:

1. I assume I can upgrade the NRT-BKK portion for just the Japan to South Asia cost, but will need to request over the phone, is this correct?
   
   
2. If I am reading the website correctly, it is showing the cost at 17,500 miles + a $75 copay (which I believe is not waived for elites on this route) per person per direction - is this also correct?
   
   
3. Is it better to request now, despite lack of R space? Or to keep checking regularly for open R space, and then call in at that point? Also, any ideas generally on when R space tends to open up on this route?
   
   
4. I know everyone's idea of value of miles is different, but does this seem like it could be reasonable value? For me, the only way of getting into a international premium cabin is either going to be upgrading from a revenue ticket on a route like this or a TPAC/TATL award ticket - upgrading with miles on a TPAC/TATL with miles is going to be too much of a copay (for me).
   
   
5. Any one have experience flying this kind of route on New Year's day, and what impact that might have on loads - i.e., are the flights likely to be lightly booked, or full/overbooked - this one is just out of curiosity
   
   
6. Finally, in case we're not upgraded, I've got us in a window and aisle seat, hoping the middle remain free. If it is booked, I figure it would probably be pretty easy to convince someone to switch to a window or aisle. Is this the best strategy for a couple on this aircraft in E+, considering its a 3-4-3 seating config?

Any advice would be appreciated.