Not too long ago, CAI-LHR on BA. Husband and I had 62J/K on UD and got upgraded to 2A/K :). First upgrade for the OT having been a gold card holder for about 8 years.

Sadly 2A was broken. The seat couldn't go fully flat and the footrest wasn't working at all, and there was no other seat I could move to in F as it was full. Fortunately the flight was about 4 hrs so I pretty much put up with it. :(

I was flying home for xmas this year and my g/f happened to be flying out the same day. After getting a hold of her schedule i booked a mulit-city trip to be on the same plane as her.
A few days earlier i had put in my upgrade request and it cleared while my g/f was still seated in the back. While boarding i rushed ahead and told the flight attendent that i wanted to give my "friend" my J seat and i would take her's in the back. My g/f was a little flustered when they FA directed her to sit in 1F. I settled into my seat back in 27c. Once the doors were closed the FA came back and said to me we have a seat for you up front. 1d was unoccupied and they sat me next to my g/f for the flight.

In early December of 2008 my daughter and I completed a Platinum Challenge.

Two weeks later we flew from FRA-DFW and at check-in we were offered an upgrade from Y-J.

Two weeks later I flew FRA-DFW and ORD-FRA and was Op-Uped on both!

So as a brand new mid-tier I received Op-Ups on 3/4 of my first TATLs.

About 3 years ago I was flying back from studying abroad in Norway when I received an opup on BA LHR-IAH (no status) from Y to Y+. It was better than Y but I still haven't flown BA since.

June 2004, flying FCO-FRA-IAD on LH/UA.

Check-in at FCO, given a boarding pass and then a gate pass at FRA for my seat to be assigned at FRA.

Land in FRA, kill some time, go to the gate and am told to wait for my name to be called. They start calling names. Everyone but 1-2 people have boarded and I'm called. Seat was something like "14C." I took the boarding pass and as I boarded the plane I thought to myself "this is awfully far to the front..." when I stumbled onto my seat which was in J.

Was a student and originally booked in a cheapie Y seat, but was LH Silver at the time. First op-up and first time in J.

My flight from MSP to PDX after Christmas was canceled due to a blizzard early in the 1990s. NW called and said that I was being rebooked on a flight two days later.

I had visions of being stuck in a non-reclining middle seat, but when the agent handed me my boarding pass, it was Seat 2A--first class.

I had a fair amount of miles on NW at the time, but no status.

Note that my parents and I were non-elite passengers at the time.

1988 - I was 9 years old traveling with my dad from NRT to BKK on NW. During our layover in NRT, my dad dozed off in an isolated part of the airport, so we arrived at the gate just before the flight was about to be closed. From my point of view a kid, the agent typed in our surnames into the computer, took our original boarding passes, and gave us new ones. My dad just smiled as we were walking to the gate and said, "We're seated in executive class." I had no clue what that meant, as all I knew about classes of service at the time were coach and first class. What stood out to me was that there were only 2 seats together and that I was able to get out of my seat without asking my dad to get out. That was my first introduction to premium travel. That was the beginning of my addiction and hope for getting upgraded in future flights, more for ego. :)

1991 - I was 12 years old traveling with my mom from NRT to MNL on NW. Unlike the incident above with my dad, my mother and I arrived at the gate on time. Waiting to get to the gate agent to lift the ticket, my mother pointed out that the agent was asking coach passengers if they'd like to be upgraded to business class, and my face lit up, hoping we'd be given the same offer. Fortunately, we were. I think Y was severely overbooked and J way open.

Then came 7 years of dry spells on international trips with no offers of op-ups. :(

But since 1998, I've been flying J on international trips. :) I'm wondering if I'll ever get an op-up to F. :D However, I've mentally prepared myself not to expect to fly F or to even book travel in F. I'm not even elite on the carrier or alliance.

SEA-PIT back in the early '90s. I was a young 20-something just starting to fly, and US bumped me up to First. I remember spending most of the flight wondering what I was supposed to do and trying to not make it obvious I was a newbie up front.

Does it count as an OpUp, if it was a bribe to keep me from demanding IDB compensation? If so, USAir, back in the 1990s... very full flight, no checked bag, no status, no online/phone check in back then... checked in a few minutes ahead of the whatever the minimum required was (40 minutes, I think) and discovered they'd already given my seat away.

Initial offer was "it's your fault, you're lucky we're offering you a seat on the next flight," but given that I was on time (by about 2 minutes left) and they were not budging on giving me my seat back, I asked for bump compensation. I was offered a voucher, or an upgrade to domestic F on the flight they'd moved me to. I'd already decided to give up on USAir, so I took the upgrade. If I'd known about the difference between IDB and VDB back then, I'd have held out for cash, but I didn't.

Was also my first flight in any kind of F/J.

First "real" op upgrade, and my only one on AA, was coming back from London at some point in 2003. I'd flown a lot of domestic F on stickers by then, and a tiny handful of J awards/mileage upgrades at that point. Was flying with my wife, on separate itineraries (mine paid, hers award.) I spotted after at check-in that my seat had been moved and was not next to hers any longer but didn't immediately realize where I'd been moved to. When we got to the gate, I asked to get moved back to the original seat next to her, and the gate agent moved her up to J next to me instead.

Score.

I've gotten a couple of op-upgrades on CX; one regional J from HKG-SIN, and a couple HKG-SFO. My wife and I also once got a half-upgrade on JL, from KIX-LAX -- the upper deck J cabin was being run with Y service. Worked for me, the seat is the important part (this also makes me miss the couple of years when every Christmas we'd fly to visit my family through Newark rather than JFK so as to take advantage of the 762-sold-as-2-class flights.)

Not sure what it means that virtually all of my op-ups have been returning to the US, rather than starting from in the US.

First op up was also my first flight with UA, back in Dec/1998 for ORD-NRT on the 744.

Had an H class ticket, asked for an aisle seat at checkin, didn't even know I was given an aisle seat in C until I got on the plane. Looked to the front and looked to the back of the plane it seemed like the entire plane was C class layout, but discovered later on UA's seat map chart, there was 3 configs of the 744, OA/OB/OP, I was on the OP one with F: 36 C:123 Y:142

When UA installing E+, both 744 OA and OP got reconfig to all OB. The current OC version is similiar to what OA used to be.

Because of the op up on my first ever UA flight, UA had my business since then.

My first op-up was on my first flight as a 1K in 2005. Really pleasant surprise, since I had never had any status prior to 2005 and was saving my E-500's for the future. Too bad that today UA is doing everything they can to undo the goodwill earned by past gestures like this.

My first and only op-up was on MSP-PDX in 2005. I was on my way to interview the next day, and my connecting flight had come in late, I ran to the gate, as the gate agent closed the doors. The gate agent automatically re-booked me on the next flight.

I had no status, I did not ask for anything (I was a kettle, I wouldn't have known better)

When she handed me the boarding pass it still didn't dawn on me until I actually got to my seat in 2B, on either an MD-88/MD-90.

That was GREAT... I made myself useful by ordering a Gin & Tonic for a PDB :-)

In 2006, on Emirates DXB-HYD, I was bumped from Y to J class, and I thought I was in heaven for 3 hours. It was my first time in business class, I had a huge grin on my face the whole time:)

March 2000, travelling on one-way tickets LGW-BOS on VS. We were emigrating -- leaving Britain behind for a new life in America.

We'd booked Premium Economy tickets for a little luxury on our trip across the Atlantic. As our stuff got packed to go on a boat, we discovered there was rather a lot more left than we'd realized, and we turned up at Gatwick with about seven large bags, fully expecting to be charged some serious baggage fees.

The check-in agent said two amazing things: "I can't be bothered to charge you for all those bags." and "By the way, you've been upgraded to Upper Class."

We crossed the Pond in serious style and twelve years, two children, and one citizenship ceremony later we're still here!

Back in the early 80s, as a young child, flying unaccompanied LAX-HEL on Finnair. Was a flight I took 1-2 times per year to see family, but typically was with at least my Mother, if not other family members. This time I was alone, and they had mistakenly put me in the smoking section of economy. Grandfather was the one who took me to the airport that time, and I distinctly remember him raising his voice and demanding they move me to a seat away from the smokers -- I ended up in F.

Frankly I can't remember much of the details of Finnair's early 80s F. Obviously I couldn't appreciate the booze, and didn't really appreciate the food. But there was a lot of room for a little guy ;)