Yea, that's my best bet on what happened. I'm sure these guys video absolutely everything and then edit it down. Why didn't he show the check-in process? Because that shows him navigating his upgrade. I can't totally fault CX with that one, if J class was wide open and he was friendly about it...maybe.

Or, the other possibility is he called / emailed / begged marketing or some contact at CX before his flight, and they told him to check it out with the airport when he arrived. You know, he probably emailed with all his subscribers and viewership and this and that. And their answer would probably be we need to check loading, check with so and so, etc. Pls come to the airport early and we'll talk.

He never says exactly why he is so darn early to the airport. This could explain why: to sort out with the staff his possibility of an upgrade.

If J class was wide open on that flight and an op-up wasn't taken away, I can't blame CX. Why not. Even though a little annoying they get some good publicity.

I do love how he whinges about the lounge...the fact they didn't give him the lounge tells me he was negotiating with them for his upgrade (or they truly just gave it to him serendipitously), they didn't flag him as some important guy. I highly, highly doubt CX's electronic systems proactively identified him beforehand. He had to flag them to himself or it was a total accident; even without the lounge rejection, I'd be nearly certain of that. The fact CX didn't let him in the lounge means I'm completely certain that he wasn't proactively identified beforehand. He either alerted them to himself or it was just dumb luck (I think it was the former).

He talks about how he just flew first class on KE or Asiana or whatever. If you're him and you're pitching CX, you probably say "I just flew xyz airline first class, my video got (x) many views, (x) many likes", whatever. "If I have the chance to fly your airlines in business class..."