Perhaps they were also tired of superfluous bookings to maximize upgrade chances. (i.e. book/see where one's at on the waitlist/cancel within 24 hr/rebook/repeat)

SDC/PP upgrade....dont try this at home...
 

Since we love to complain when the system doesnt appear to work in our favor - and I hate to mention this experience since it might not end up like it did.....

Friday - was flying from a smaller city to a hub and then to another hub home
... used a PP to try and upgrade between hubs - was first on the list and was going to look like I was going to get a seat (barely)
... had a nice window seat in front of E+
However, due to weather (and got lots of notice from UA - thank you!) - the shorter flight to the hub was delayed and I was going miss the hub-hub flight and that would have been a problem getting me home (I think it was the last flight of the day)
So, was able to change to an earlier shorter flight - this was also delayed, but worked in my favor as the hour delayed helped me with overall scheduling

Got on an earlier hub-hub flight - but, lost my window seat (got a middle a few rows back) and was now 4th on the CPU list and BF was sold out and appeared full..

Boarded the hub-hub flight - BF was listed as full and I was now 3rd on the list - an obvious couple was 1 and 2
Flight was packed - no empty seats
Doors closing - but they were still trying to count seats for standby
Apparently, there was still 1 seat listed up front - they offered it to #1, but the couple wanted to sit together
...so, they came looking for me and pulled me up front (not exactly Dr Dao style....) from my middle seat kicking and screaming

so, got the upgrade and got home on a friday night a few hours earlier - nice and nice

here is the zinger - they still havent deducted the PP from my account
....historically, those seem to get deducted immediately upon arrival

time will tell - but thank you UA!

PP don't carry over when you make a change, so unless you re-applied them after changing flights, it is correct that you don't have them deducted.

Also, my own personal view is that it's best not to call attention to a potential error that has gone in your favour. :)

I like the “do not try it at home” part. Calling 1K line is the best solution. Nevertheless, you got CPUs and keep PP for next trip.

I just booked a Vegas trip yesterday and noticed that F from the East Coast was only $325- more than coach for a rt. IME, this is pretty common, with F being only a few hundred dollars more than Y. It seems to me like there is a lot of bargain F out there these days.

Cleared a Friday upgrade LAX-HNL at T-24 today, as a Gold for both me and my son :)

The 777-300 flight was at 40 of 60 booked at T-25.

Having the flexibility to fly a day earlier or later doesn't hurt either.

SFO to ORD on Wednesday. Booked late, but was 17 as a 1K using PP. AFAICT, there were no upgrades prior to it going to the gate crew. This was a 777 3- cabin with 48(?) lie flats. Return on a 3-cabin 787 and #7 using PP.

UA has definitely figured out how to monetize the front. Looking at the folks up front this was not a business travel heavy group.

PHL-IAD cleared 20 mins before IAD-FLL cleared t-24 as a gold

LAX-DEN CPU cleared T-24 (it was 12/24 available in F), the upgrade price was $129. The DEN-MSP leg had no chance with all F seats (A320) sold/assigned days before.
MSP-DEN CPU clearedT-96. 9 seats are available in F on the DEN-LAX leg and fingers are crossed!

Was it a flight timed to connect to TATL flights out of ORD?

No surprise here, this was my typical experience on this route pre pandemic and it looks like UA is already back on track. I regularly take this flight out of SFO and have previously posted at length about my failures with and with out instruments on FT pre pandemic. I will still throw PPs at it and will be taking the flight next month again but I have no expectations of clearing the upgrade if all things remain stable now,

Onthesam+1 cleared at T-23 EYW-ORD.

Landed at 2:35PM so not bad for the 5-7 PM departures.

Good to know. I'm normally out of DEN, which with instruments has a decent chance of success, but only decent.

SFO/ORD was a "never" upgrade before the pandemic. I did a regular commute for several years, and the only time I ever had a hope was the strange 1a SFO arrival, a redeye, or the mid-morning Tu/We ORD departure.