I thought I contribute to this thread.
First time flying on my bd- Tpe to Hkg, got a "happy birthday" from the check in agent with an upgrade to J from Y (with PEY on this flight), and acknowledged on the flight as well with a box of chocolate. Offered to bring a friend up from Economy about 45minutes to landing, i thanked them and declined. Wanted to sing happy birthday but I graciously asked them not to.
The flight I actually wanted to be upgraded was the day before, JFK to HKG to TPE. Which was about 12 hours before the actual Bday. I was on J already and I'm not sure if F was already full.