For MAA to HKG, chance is slim. It is W2 R0 E0 because of the married segment CX884. It is in fact W9 R9 E9. For CX884, it is difficult to say. There are potentially many CX elites and AA EXP on that route.

Bought the SFO-HKG PE sale on black friday which booked into E fare. On return flight, was upgraded to J, as OWE on A350 (CX 892). Flight to HKG J looked full, when I was upgraded on my return flight there were 3 empty seats. This was done on the day of, my online checkin the day before still reflected my PE seat. Probably helped to have a weekday return versus a weekend.

So...CX made a video about this. LOL

I am guessing your profile is old then? Shows AA plat..

Was PE completely 0'ed out?

Expert flyer has been all wonky lately with CX. Was flying SFO-HKG-SFO in PE. Showed almost full on way out then around a day left 9+ open in each cabin. I verified I could at least book 6 seats in any cabin, but arriving at airport staff said it was fully booked (while they were still selling tickets online). Same thing on way back. Return ended up overbooked in Y and PE and my wife and I got upgraded to J. Walked back to PE to see at least 2 open seats left. Must have had some last minute no shows or something strange was going on with seat management. At least we got to keep the upgrade :-)

What status level are you?

AA EXP / CX Silver. Trip was on AA so EXP/OWE.

Ticketed R for CX 690 31 Jan and CX 659 4 Feb.
Gunning for a W>J upgrade but told the outbound is waitlisted when they are still selling I both ways with 4 seats left. E is still selling for the outbound. Inbound is cleared. Wonder what's up with CX redemption inventory

My longhaul flight opened up about 48-72 hours prior on both cases (west and eastbound) for U inventory.

Hi FT, casual lurker. Quick question about a free op-up i've had recently.

Cathay Dragon Flight from HKG to XMN. Flight was delayed thrice. (About 3 hours total from intended departure). I recently signed up for MPC and started off with green. Got an Economy ticket from a booking agent (Category S?)

I usually travel on discounted economy tickets through the likes of Skyscanner booking sites. On this occasion, while queuing up in the MPC green lane for boarding, I was given a ticket which shows cat J and told that it was a 'first class' seat all the way at the front row. (Im a pretty frequent low-budget traveller so you can only imagine the s***-eating grin of delight at the op-up)

Anyone able to shed any light on how I was eligible? As I read, my status should be pretty low on the priority list for op-ups.

Cheers

Welcome to FT and welcome to MPC.

I am inclined to think the following aligned.
1. Flight was not elite heavy (i.e. not enough CX and OW higher tier elites to be upgraded.
2. Low check-in sequence (did you check in way early)

Happened to me on my first op up 5 years ago as GR. Q class ticket, upgraded from Y to PY HKG to SIN on CX 735,

I had an earlier connecting flight from SIN so if that counted as an early check-in then maybe.

I took the same route as a non-MPC passenger 4 times in the last 2 months. That's what prompted me to try out for the MPC membership. Would Cathay/MPC have placed that under consideration during op up?

Despite the short journey, i thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Was very cool!

The fellow above has posted good reasons. Yet there is another, which is related to what you mention and it's possibly correct. CX is known to, sometimes (but certainly not always) upgrade members who are bumped up a tier the first time. I've seen two colleagues get upgraded their first flight as SL. Personally, 12+ years ago when I first hit SL just starting out with CX I was given an op-ups HKG-SIN. And I've read about it on here.
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Now I've never heard about this dynamic before for Green, but I think it is at least a possibility you got the upgrade as your first flight as an MPC member.