My biggest concern with United's new upgrade program

We're just five days away from the start of United's new unlimited domestic upgrade program. I'm looking forward to it, though in the back of my mind there is a lingering concern that my perfect upgrade record since I became 1K in 2007 will come to an end.

Although it is rather tedious now to have to support domestic upgrades with e500s, miles + co-pay, or regional upgrades, I always get the upgrade when I want it--even if I request it at the last minute.

I decided yesterday to try to upgrade my ORD-PHL flight this evening. I only had one e500 left, but thought I could talk an agent into comping me a second one since the UDU program starts later in the week (I was successful, BTW).

The flight was zeroed out, though a couple seats remained open in F, and I chuckled as I looked up on the departure monitor at O'Hare and saw that I was first on the list of 26 passengers trying to upgrade.

That's been the beauty of being a 1K on United. I look forward to having a shot at First Class on every non-p.s. domestic flight now, rather than just the flights I want to upgrade, but this new program is not going to go over well with me if I ever find myself in the back on a 757 transcon.

I don't think I need to worry--even transcon and midcon A319s have been a relatively easy upgrade the last year--but I just can't supress that nagging feeling that the upgrades will stop clearing.

On a separate note, I shed a tear as I looked at MY ITINERARIES this evening on united.com--it's empty. I've got to book a couple trips to California tomorrow. I get restless very quickly.