Yes.

No.

I finally got a reply from Doha yesterday, saying that, despite there being availability for normal Qmiles redemption, there are no seats available for Qmiles/Qcredit upgrade.

Update / upgraded (one way)
 

I feel your pain - I tried emailing them for avail. but the replies were inconsistent.
Some would check, some would not & it's always the same template reply -

Since we have moved all our redemption related services online due to this reason we advised you the steps to be carried out online to process the upgrade.
Note: Redemption seats are limited per flight and are subject to availability at the time of booking.
If you still wish to confirm availability before purchasing economy class ticket, you may contact our Member Service Associates, who will be delighted to assist you with the availability.

In my case, what the person told you was incorrect.

But you are correct, it's our choice & for me, it was between UA/NH, SQ or QR to get me home.
In this case, QR was the best because they are running a sale ex-USA right now, & with the option to upgrade, it was a no brainer.

Good luck with your upgrade!

Here's what I did - I searched for the avail. online using Qmiles redemption tool, took down the exact dates & flight nos.
Called my local office but the call was re-redirected to a call center somewhere in India.
Gave her the dates I wanted, & surprisingly, the only avail. was the exact & only date I saw on the Qmiles redemption online tool (SIN-JFK)
Booked, issued & immediately upgraded :D
In any case, I booked a Saver (O) class ticket both ways, I will just try my luck at the airport - hopefully will be able to upgrade at least 1 sector on the outbound (JFK-DOH or DOH-SIN)

:-:

That's also what they've told me in the past. Btw, a couple of months ago I had a similar issue and managed to have it resolved successfully by Doha. You can read my account of what happened here - Success story: QR Doha contact centre (Y to J Qmiles upgrade). As with all cases, it really depends on how competent a CSO you get and how much effort they want to put in to resolving your issue.

Lucky you! Do agree it might be down to how helpful a particular agent is, but we should not need to play Russian Roulette with upgrades...

Definitely! Have been told this several times in the past, I simply called again until a found an agent willing to do it for me. I just upgraded with qcredits today, and it's interesting because I called the US office to check for space and the agent on the phone seemed bored with it all, and told me all flights have upgrade eligibility.... I was obviously doubtful as I was booking LHR legs! She insisted there was, but I called the UK office after and lo and behold, there are no seats available for LHR legs as I suspected :rolleyes: So do be careful, I'd advise one to call twice just to make sure!