Originally Posted by
Tinseltown
I'm sorry, but the above statement is so, so wrong. I know plenty of people with contacts who get upgraded all the time because of said contacts.
I think you have to be realistic. Some people are lucky, some aren't. This time, it wasn't you. Why not let the ladies have a special time together for once?!?
As a student, I had to fly between countries (as I lived in a different country from where I was attending uni), and I was upgraded as an 19-year-old who happened to be well-dressed. No elite status or something whatsoever.
There were plenty of older people on that flight with probably more mileage, but they chose me, so what?
It's a different scenario because 'op-ups' tend to be done to fill seats in one cabin to make room in another cabin. This wasn't an op-up, it was a 'courtesy' upgrade.
The decision to make this courtesy not also available to other interested CE pax seems to have had little basis on any real reasons, other than perhaps a psychological preference for the hen party over the OP. But that's something one should avoid in that role. They had the choice between creating a positive impression with additional people or creating some somewhat miffed customers. They chose the latter.