Thanks for the update, I am sure you were pleased with that outcome. The key bit to this was the equipment change, so that worked in your favour - they had to do a lot of work to get the passenger list sorted and so the usual rules of the game would not apply. Normally, however, if they or rather DUT, are looking for half a dozen people to be upgraded, they will simply look for bookings without the various specials attached to them. DUT has a known filter on this, which also have the impact of reducing the chance of a downgrade from higher cabins, and is normally an automated process. TLV is an interesting route for this - if there is a school group or similar which has put in for Kosher meals DUT may occasionally run out of options on that route!