Originally Posted by
eyeball1
Interestingly the process does seem a little random. On our last flight to YYZ to CDG with my family of five the gate agent called me over and asked if I wanted two or three upgrades to business seats on the 787. Ummm..."three please"!
It's not an entirely unreasonable question. Depending the structure of your family you might have needed to split the group in a particular way -- say, if there were two young kids who shouldn't be left in Y cabin on their own. Better for the gate agent to ask than to make potentially-wrong assumptions.