I am sorry for resurrecting this thread, but has anyone had recent experiences in using Auto Upgrade as EK Platinum, versus requesting to be waitlisted through the call centre?

My typical process when for whatever reason I get booked in J has always been to call up asking for an upgrade to F with miles. If there is no availability as Platinum they can waitlist the upgrade and I have had a 100% success rate in getting it cleared at least one week prior to departure.

Tonight I called EK to do the usual and was told that if waitlisted through the phone I would have a lower priority than if doing it through Auto Upgrade. Hung up and called again, only to be told the same (much to my surprise!).

I had always been under the impression that the manual waitlist would put Plats into a better position rather than using the Auto Upgrade function. Has this changed? Any experiences?