Thanks for the input, ac/elite - clearly you're doing way, way better than me on the upgrade front (and we're both way ahead of Empress!!). Maybe I'll try the ultra-polite (I wouldn't know any other way!) request a few times, see how it works out - I've hardly got anything to lose, have I?
Just have to check that my friend's nowhere near - of course if she was, I'd have already made a bee-line for her. Needless to say, she's never been at the gate on so much as a single flight I've ever taken.