upgrade record from this SE
First off I am a long standing SE. Whenever I have tried to upgrade with credits I have always been successful except for once from CDG to YUL about 2 yrs ago.
I might be a great critic of AC from time to time but I have found that the UG work pretty well for me.
However it is also totally dependent on how many useable credits you have as a SE or Elite. AC is giving us less and less each year which means there is no way you can up/g on all your flights. So you have to be srrategic in your use of the up/g unless you are paying much higher fares.
All in all SE is still the only category to be in with Air Canada. The recent downgrades are a major disincentive for frequent travelers. It is a real shame and I suspect they will realize this as so many loyal customers are vacating AC for other airlines such as AA, UAL, BA, etc