I'll leave it to you, sxc, to decide whether to include this in the sticky: namely, the rather convoluted process one has to go through to confirm an upgrade. In my experience, it goes like this:

1) determine the fight/date(s) you want to upgrade. (To know which ones have availability before booking, you will need KVS or something like that).

2) Book a revenue ticket in the class of service for which you will be paying. Do NOT do this via the website -- call a CX telephone sales number.

3) Put the booking on hold.

4) Call the Marco Polo/Asia Miles Service Center. Have them book the upgrade and give you a deadline to have the ticket issued. (It's usually about 72 hours).

5) Call telephone sales back. Have them issue the ticket.

6) Call Marco Polo/Asia Miles back. Give them the revenue ticket number against the PNR. Ask them to queue the ticket for re-issue with the upgrade(s) confirmed.

7) In about two or three days, you'll get a new ticket with the upgrade showing.

Note that if the Marco Polo Service Center tells you that the upgrade on the date/flight you wanted isn't available, and you want to change the booking to another date where the upgrade is available, you will need to go back to your telephone sales res agent and re-book. They won't help if it's a web booking -- so don't use the web if you want to upgrade in advance.