my uncle and his wife were also just op. upgraded from business to first on HKG-SYD with award tickets a few weeks ago...my uncle is CX Gold (OW Sapphire)...

my understanding is, when doing operational upgrades, CX probably makes no distinction between revenue and award passengers...as long as you have a confirmed booking, status is what matters...however, for example, if you are a CX Gold waitlisting for a J seat at the airport, when they are doing op. upgrades, they would upgrade CX Silver and others in J to F first, and give the CX Gold a J seat, instead of upgrading the CX Gold who doesn't have a confirmed booking...

but, what I am still not sure is...what's the op. upgrade priority of CX MPO vs oneworld elites ?? for example, is the order CX Diamond, 1W Emerald, CX Gold, 1W Sapphire, CX Silver, 1W Ruby...or, CX Diamond, CX Gold, 1W Emerald, 1W Sapphire, CX Silver, 1W Ruby...or in other order ?? is there a clear priority list that the agents follow ??