I can tell you, that LH offers a special HON Treatment arriving f.e. in DXB, SIB, BKK or HKG. What they are doin in the USA and South America, I'll experiencewithin the next weeks. I'll report. The experiences during short and long haul flights are very different. Some of the FAs take care a lot on HON Circle Members, others don't mind about them. Maybe they had a bad night. I can't find any rule. Regarding upgrades I've no experiences. I did not receive anyone after getting HON. The phone service in Germany is excellent, the one in Italy is terrible. I suppose, they didn't get any training how to treat HONs. In AOI, my main italian airport I've no advantages beeing HON. No lounge, no pre-check-ion by phone. And the AIR Dolomiti staff doesn't care about HONs. Maybe the reason is, that they don't get relevant information about the status.
That's it for today
best regards from Italy Luigi