Originally Posted by
canyonleo
So my best chance (and that's not so high a chance at that, but still best) is a GA or staff in the Club doing an upgrade not based on a cabin roll, but just on kindness of my situation (split from wife) and my EXP/Emerald won't hurt but won't help much... but GAs (unlike at AA which is really rare) do have the autonomy to do such a move?
No, only supervisor of the port has any power over op-ups. The GAs may feel sorry for your request and call him/her on your behalf, but the supervisor might still give a NO answer.
People need to realize the check-in nor gate-agents have power to do pretty much anything else but print your boarding pass and assign you seats.