Originally Posted by
friendlyplanet
I don't think this is published anywhere, and as you say, SQ Opups are so rare I don't see how you could figure this out.
I believe that the opposite is true- Opups are given to elites of other airlines, under the hope that once they try SQ premium, they might buy a ticket at a future time. The only time I got an opup was when I was 1K, but had no status on KF.
I admit they also could have just been giving them out randomly as well- waited until they absolutely needed another economy seat, and I was the lucky number. But there's no way that SQ had already given Opups to all the 1-4 on your list who were flying Y that day.
Call it random. I had an SQ op-up the other day on LHR-SIN, Y->C on the 380. Flight was hugely oversold in Y and I was on a full Y fare as a *G. I asked for a better seat as they had given me a middle--at the transit desk they weren't able to help, but at the lounge they took my request, and then paged me later to tell me they found me one
I'd have to guess that the full Y fare class might have something to do with it, but who knows really? They're so rare that it seems no science has been reverse-engineered by FT as it has for other airlines (notably CX).