Originally Posted by
taupo
Assuming gate priority does actually go Cabin>Status>Fare, then a VIP would have had to have requested the upgrade to trump Centurion.
No, it would only take someone with equal status (SE2MM) to create a tie and move to the next criterion, which would be fare. Or maybe 2MM Centurion's eUp was requested by someone else with lower status and that was affecting priority (which it probably shouldn't, but the system isn't always perfect).
Or, has upgrade priority been fine tuned so that higher fare within a cabin brand trump a lower fare within the same cabin brand, then Status follows after that?
The way it's supposed to work is brand, then class. So a PY Flexible E fare should rank ahead of a PY Flexible A fare. It's detailed in the wiki. If AC has reversed the priority to go fare, then status, then yes, they would presumably first look at brand then fare class within that brand. But again, the information supplied to date does not confirm that hypothesis.