Here is the info I've gathered so far - some of it just from people in passing and some from my own observation.

I flew on LY315 Monday, we had a very hard landing and when we approached the gate we stopped a few meters short and were told the automatic guidance system at the gate had failed so were waiting for ground crew to guide us in. About 10 minutes later I spotted the crew arrive and seconds later we were on our stand. We then waited for the sky-bridge to arrive at the door. There seemed to be some confusion among the on-board crew as to which door the bridge was heading for. I observed through the small window in the door the sky-bridge approaching and reversing sever times b4 the final 'all-clear'.
Tuesday, I awoke to the news that LY316 from the previous night didn't leave due to a cracked window. Later at Shacharis a fellow congregant who was meant to be on the flight gave a similar story Except he mentioned that he'd heard that the skybridge had hit the window - hence the crack.
Wednesday, late afternoon I checked on Flightradar to see what was being flown for that afternoon's LY316. After seeing it was a 777 I called the check-in desk at LHR to see if they knew what Thursday's 316 would be flying. they confirmed it would also be a 777 and had already reassigned my seat to exactly the one I would have requested - well done ElAl.
Thursday, At check-in I inquired as to the latest info on the Dreamliner and was told it was being flown back empty (no explanation as to why). In the lounge were at least 8 non-uniformed ElAl staff (they were talking with uniformed pilots and had cases pilot cases with "CREW" stickers and REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT flags). I overheard them talking about there being a crew of 4 and a crew of 5. Lo and behold on my flight there were at least 3 of the same non-uniformed crew sitting comfortably in Business (as they always do which I assume is one of the reasons upgrades are so rare even for PLs)