1786771 Gold Upgrade (GUP) is only available for Member. For Econ->Biz GUP, you need to book economy Q class or better (quite expensive these days), and also have J business class available as well for the upgrade to be applied into. I can’t recall the requirements for Biz-First.

(Corrected) The 50% Award can be used by member or Nominee. Just need usual award class availability, and TG effectively just charges 1/2 the usual miles. It can be used at any time in the year.

Just for some history, I recall when the 50% Award was first offered as an unpublished benefit back in 2005/6 as a ‘birthday gift’ that could only be used in birthday month +/- 1 month Thankfully those days are long gone