How many QF points do you have at present? You may be able to quickly earn some through CC signups. Are you also aware there will be a large cash component with the award booking as well?
QF upgrades are not guaranteed, you can only upgrade to First from Business (or to Business from Economy/Premium Economy), require you to be in certain fare buckets (you cannot upgrade from discount economy for example), and upgrades are processed by QF status.
If you cannot earn enough points to get a normal award seat, then there is no harm in applying for an upgrade (assuming you purchase an eligible ticket), but I would not count on it being processed as QF Bronze.
Alas, I only have an incredibly embarrassing, measily 27,500 at present - far, far less than I need. Yes, I realize it will be a significant cost which was why I wanted to try and accrue as much as possible via points if I could but clearly it's not as simple, or as attainable as one had hoped.
I realized there are restrictions with upgrades (i.e. one cannot upgrade from PE to First for example) but I hadn't realized the upgrades were also dependent on the QF status until reading your posts (and also reading further on this forum).
Trying not to become completely disheartened.
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