Just to bring some cheer into the thread.
I had a J booking AMS/DXB/CPT.
EK148 AMS/DXB looked like a light load in F from a few weeks ago and indeed an upgrade soon showed up so I grabbed it. Did not expect DXB/CPT to work at all, but set an alert anyway. I think alerts self-cancel T-48. Flight (ex AMS) was today. Looked at MMB this morning an lo and behold: upgrade available. Quickly called in and asked for the two upgrades to be combined. Took a few hours but the excellent agent actually phoned be back to say the combination had been approved. Now about an hour from DXB in F with load 3/14. Next flight looks like 8/8 so a bit puzzled why they released the upgrade. But happy camper.
Moral of the story: try as hard as you can, sometimes the cards fall in your favour.
To top it off: miles charged are as per the ‘old’ redemption rates, CPT to Europe has not been changed (yet).