Originally Posted by Brian_1
Geez will you guys stop going on about this.
You all know the upgrade procedures.
When Closeouts/FMU/Flight Finalisation (different names for the same depts depending which airport or terminal you're in) bring up a list of card holders on the flight. It shows Emeralds first in alphabetical order then Saphire in alphabetical order................simple as that. And who gets upgraded depends on various things on the day. Do you have a special meal? Are you travelling as part of a group? Have you already checked in (if they are looking for someone that instant)? Are you Gold or Silver............etc etc etc etc.
I have said it in the past and I shall say it again. You all have a tendency to jump on your horse and gallop away.
But sometimes it's in completely the wrong direction. 
If a flight needs to leave, or managers need to make quick decisions, it seems that there is no reason to the madness of operational upgrades: gold, silver, blue, premier, full fare, discount, VIP, CIP, Gold 99... What has been said regarding the fact that most BA employees have no access to CCV and Gold scores seems to reinforce this idea, because if they cannot see how important a pax is commercially, there is plenty of reason to believe decisions to upgrade and the general treatment by the frontline staff will not change from Mr. Gold-99 and Mr. Gold-01.
I still found it very odd that my brother and I were upgraded from a redemption in Y to the upperdeck, but the duty manager told us they were pressed to open up seats, so they just picked and chose whoever they could find (generally those who had already checked in online, despite the large number of Golds on the flight who had yet to check-in). A customer service manager has also told me that BA once had, may still have, policies that specifically
discourage the practice of upgrading Goldmembers first; why should they pay the full premium fares if they will get upgraded anywAAy? And at the end of the day, no one has a right to an upgrade, premier or lowly blue. You get what you paid for, no complaints.