But what was the underlying fare class?

27500AM is the price of a Y to PEY upgrade as published for YVR HKG or any other West Coast origin; provided that you hold an upgradable ticket.
Canada to HKG PEY Cabin is running 85-95% full so they will gladly take your AM to have one more seat occupied by revenue (AM).

your rational is somewhat misplaced. you paid Y so you fly Y. you dont expect to be op upped to J.

if you choose CX over SQ your choice. But if you do so hoping for upgrade you would be disappointed

Hence the question / clarification.

If OP was already booked into an eligble fare class in first place - then you might as well have pay that 27.5k AM well ahead of time. And not have to risk being stuck in a middle PEY seat last minute.

But if OP was in a deeply discounted Y fare class or Light fare, and he/she only had to pay 27.5k AM at check-in, then that's an interesting DP for the community.

Sorry I wasn't initially clear on ticket type. I had Economy Essential so it was upgradeable using Asiamiles. I was put on waitlist for an upgrade for 4 months and whenever I called, the CX Agent said that no redemption slots were available. I was pleasantly surprised upon check-in that I could use Asiamiles to upgrade the ticket.

I usually fly J on SQ but the few times in Y, nothing. Your point is misplaced - what’s the purpose of being loyal to an airline then if you never get upgraded?

Do CX allow penalty free 'upsell' or 'upgrade'? I have redemption T (PEY) but now U (Biz) has opened up. I'm happy to burn more points if I don't need to pay US$120 cancel/reissue fee, so in these instances do CX upon asking agents waive penalty for upsell? Similarly, what if this was revenue ticket? I seem to feel there was a policy about waiver of change fee in case of upsell but wasn't sure if this was CX or SQ or my own wishful thinking.

For upselling revenue tickets, I normally get the fee waived if it’s for same flight. If you are doing it on the phone, the agent will put you on hold to get approval.

Flying CX once again after a 7 year hiatus (PEY). Can someone kindly help with the loads for these flights - didn't exactly get my pick of seats unfortunately

CX 873 - 2 AUG - SFO-HKG
CX 731 - 3 AUG - HKG-DXB

If I can see J redemption seats available, does it mean I can definitely book PE and get an immediate upgrade award?

Also, if I receive an upgrade, can I still make changes to other sectors on the booking without losing my upgraded seat?

For first part of your question, the answer should theoretically be yes. Upgrade and outright redemption falls into the same fare bucket (U class for business). To be safe, give CX a call to find out. They can check upgrade availability on the spot and will most likely tell you "we recommend you buy your PEY ticket asap to secure the upgrade while space lasts".

As for the second class, others would know more but I don't see why you can't make changes to other sectors of the itinerary.

For part 1: in theory, yes. You can even utilise the 24 hr free cancellation if it doesn’t work out in your favour. However, unless your PE ticket is dead cheap or you don’t have enough miles, it is not economical.

For part 2: which flights are you taking?

Yeah, for sure,
but their website might recognize it as a 'complex' booking so you might need to call their CS center to change it

Thanks all. I've had a look with fresh eyes at the cost of the PE ticket + upgrade and come to the conclusion that it is indeed less economical than a full redemption, but in the equation also is the benefit of having a flex ticket that falls back to PE if there are no more J award seats on a date I want to change to. Fun games...

What are the odds of getting op-up'd from PY to J as an SL holding a fare class R rev ticket on HKG-YYZ sector, assuming PY cabin is full?