Did you try in the UA Club?
I first went to terminal A at EWR bec they are domestic and I was hoping they would be clueless and just seat me in the open business seats. They said they don't do international ( I know they do bec I have checked in there for tlv flights before)
I then went to terminal C economy check in they knew about plan b and straight asked me "Where you seated in business or just wait listed??" I just played dumb and kept repeating I don't know I was told I should ask for "ggoneupgrade" (or whatever Dan says in the post I had it open on my phone the whole time) she eventually with enough schmoozing up (she just got back from Cancun was there for a wedding) she agreed to p-1 wait list me but she claimed the system wouldn't let her she claims she even called the "help desk" (not sure if that's good or bad)
I then went to the premier access check in (bad idea) she claimed award says I can't be wait listed bec they never took the miles for business from my account and they couldn't take the 175K necessary at that time bec my balance was less then that.
So I figured I'll try the lounge (side note it was PACKED with yidden) she was really sweet and said she will try but as soon as she looked at my reservation in the system she saw the notes from the premier access agent and just stated word for word what she told me/wrote in the notes.
So dead end and cattle class for me
yay!!
Although I did take I forgot who's advice and made sure I had normal seats in economy just in case.
Now I have to work on my trip back. I'm confirmed on tlv-ewr 11am on 1/27 and wait listed for I on that fought and the 11pm (the one I really want but can't get on it yet [I have a wedding that night in tel Aviv]) any ideas??