Ok, I would like to understand just how operational upgrades are processed.

Here's the scenario.

The SIN-MEL flight is full. You know this because either the seat map is zeroed out, or EF shows no fares available in Y in any fare bucket. Or because when you checked in, the friendly agent told you so!

If you're a Gold Skywards member, my experience has always been that the op-up has been determined before you get to the airport. In the majority of cases.

So just how does the person controlling the flight determine who receives an op-up?

Lets say EK need to find 12 more Y seats. J class on a 777 has 42 seats and F has 8.

Assume there is plenty of space in J (ie more than 12). So the flight controller goes looking thru the manifest and sees 15 Golds on the flight. For simplicity sake, lets assume all those Golds are in Y.

Does he/she look at the list and simply select alphabetically, does fare come into it (ie flex versus saver, and then what specific fare was paid), does tier miles YTD come into play, does tier miles since joining come into it, does the recent "member score" come into it?

I've been op-upped on the cheapest saver fares before.

And then follow the same argument, for when they need to move down the tier levels and look at Silvers etc.

I suppose at the end of the day, members like me would like to know what criteria the airline uses and what strategies can/could be employed to increase your chances of receiving an op-up.

I'm not unhappy mind you with the current state of affairs. Far from it in fact. And the thing that I am sure of, if you really do what to increase your chances, then pick flights with high loads and make sure you maintain status. That assumes you can be somewhat flexible with your itinerary, which thankfully I can.