Funnily enough I just turned down an upgrade at the gate that would have split me and my other half up and was searching for information and just came across this thread.

After being spoken to quite rudely by the gate agent I spoke with the Inflight Lead who suggested I just sat in my original seat and explain to the customer who was given mine. He was quite jovial with me when I said “you would be mad to turn down that seat” (I was given 1C instead of a middle seat in ET). Bracing for an upset partner in case they were to say no, I was pleased to see the second man by the front door come down the aisle to advise they were looking out for the person allocated my seat and they had already intercepted the pax in my seat who had accepted.

Given my refusal hasn’t been recorded anywhere and as far as BA’s systems are concerned I accepted it, just out of interest, does their system record who has been given opups and will my name now be lower down the pecking order should one be required going forward?