I am QF Platinum and was persuaded that would give me 90% chance of getting upgraded form Econ to Biz SYD-LHR, even though there were no award seats at the time I enquired. "They'll put through a special request and allocate a seat for you" I was told, by QF phone sales. Lo and behold, once I booked and piad for the econ. ticket, no amount of nice requesting, pleading, offering to change days or time etc is helping. "We won't release any more seats until 2 weeks b4 the flight" I am now told! That's not much help to me as my plans need finalising prior to then, also, what's the point in having a longer waitlist time for Platinum members if seats don't get allocated until 2 weeks before??

Any tips or suggestions as to how to increase upgrade chances from here? (Using UA miles and NZ points beckon as the alternative. I just thought I'd use up the QF 'upgrade credits' I had sitting around...)