Arrived at PEK check-in. Went to the F/GS check-in line. I was travelling paid C with a request for upgrade submitted prior. The 3 nice check-in girls (yes, 3! everything is overstaffed in china) quickly worked their magic. They informed me that they only had one F seat left but that the video cassette player wasn't working in that seat. So they gave me the seat, didn't pull a SWU and instead added a SWU and gave me a 'friendship kit'. And they quickly handed me my BP (already printed) with an already filled-out departure card for immigrations (i didn't know they even stored all my personal information for that).

Upon boarding the FA addressed me by name and made sure i was aware the IFE wasn't working. (She claimed it was the entire system, not just the cassette player--which i would've had a problem with--i need that map on a long flight or i go insane). Turned out everything seemed to work fine an hour into the flight (never checked the cassette player--no patience for that).

So instead of a -1 SWU, i ended up with a +1 SWU. I feel too guiltly to send in the friendship kit for extra compensation.