I'm sure everyone else knows how to do this but I can't find the answer with search.
Is there a simple way to find upgrade availability on the website? At the moment I do a search in awards and look for I (NC) inventory but it is tedious and often needs a search in all three classes. Even then you can miss seats if there are no award seats but upgrade space is still available.

No.

That was both a quick answer and easy to understand. If only UA could follow your example!

I promise that if they offer me Glenn's job I'll happily accept and make a few quick changes. . Sorry that I couldn't offer you a solution; however, there simply isn't an "easy" way and you seem already well-versed in the only way that we all know other than calling.

Unfortunately, anything having to do with IT at UA is crap. Sorry!

... and why won't they let you choose the M/H fare just for the international segment rather than having to price the whole itinerary in a premium bucket.

In my excited haste, I misread the title thread on the front page as:I shouldn't have been so stupid

From time to time, ExpertFlyer has been adding upgrade/award hidden classes on various carriers. They don't say anything much about why they have access to the carriers they do, and why the don't have access to United. Does anyone know if that's a United thing? Does United consider it proprietary, and therefore refuse to allow third-party access to it? All of which seems pretty silly -- because I'm forever wasting their agents' time by calling to see if there's confirmed upgrade space available on a flight I'm considering. Sure would be nice to just hop on ExpertFlyer...

We have been trying since we started ExpertFlyer, and through a number of different channels and contacts, to seek from UA access to award and/or upgrade inventory. To say we have gotten nowhere with UA would be an understatement, even when pointing out to them the benefit to their operations and increased satisfaction with their best customers.

Every airline considers their inventory and fare data proprietary. Where, how and to whom they distribute that data is up to each airline. A few airlines have chosen to readily make award/upgrade inventory accessable through GDS distribution or through so-called direct access. And, from time to time certain airline award/upgrade inventory will appear and then dissappear without notice on ExpertFlyer. This is due to quirks in what the airline chooses to distribute (accidentally or intentionally) through various GDS systems that ExpertFlyer uses.