Well recently i got an upgrade request accepted from DOH-LHR.
Now I had applied 3 weeks prior to the flight requesting an upgrade. Everytime the Privilege Club responded back saying the flight was full. I was told to keep applying. I did every other day and everytime I got the same response. Finally on the day I was leaving (it was a night flight from AUH) I got a call to say that there is space and whether I wanted to upgrade.
Point I was making was if you are flexible flight availability does open up but only in the last minute. Considering this promotion is for OCT it isn't like there is alot of time to book well in advance.