I've heard continually about VS not doing Op-Ups, and I'd take this opportunity to dispel this myth. Maybe they used to do a lot more, and now they do less. But they certainly do it. Believe me. One of my common routes (HKG), I have flown 6 times and been upgraded half the time for free, the other half with miles on the day - so much so that i've only flown in my booked class (Premium) one leg out of that total.

As far as I know the VS process is more manual than BA. I may be wrong, but I don't *think* they have an algorithm. Ultimately nobody outside of revenue management would really know. And I have tried to ask a number of people - FSM's, FSS's, Crew, Lounge Managers and Outstation Managers - nobody could tell me, and the ones I suspect that did know, wouldn't tell (for obvious reasons).

At LHR, the senior check-in supervisor (usually dressed in red uniform) carries a clipboard of known no-shows, potential Op-Ups and Uniq's coming through T3 that day. They know which flights are overbooked, and will require shuffling around. In my experience, at LHR, this is almost never done at check-in. They will wait until check-in closes and then work out who needs to be moved and what is to be done.

The decision on who to move and where too, I *think* is based on a mix of the following -

• Cabin fare bucket. I have NEVER been upgraded on a K. But have on H, S and W. The higher the fare bucket - the more favourably you are looked on. Which makes sense, somebody who has bought the last W and paid a lot of money for it, deserves to be moved to UC more so than somebody who may be Gold, but booked a K fare months in advance.
• Check in sequence. My usual strategy, is check in as late as physically possible. With BA, this is pointless as the algorithm has already decided if you are getting moved or not. As VS is more manual, this can often have an effect. I'll cite my recent HKG return... No upgrades available at check-in for cash or miles. I knew the flight was overbooked in Premium as Expert Flyer had W0 and Upper was J4. I was given a boarding pass for my Premium seat, and the upgrade only happened when I tried to board the aircraft. The ground crew had a hand written piece of paper with two names on it - mine and somebody else's - with pre-printed boarding passes for Upper. I was Seq 259 out of a possible 264.
• Status. I am Gold, and have been for a while now (3 years? with 2 as Silver before that). And I rarely get beyond the 1500tps mark. So I think this has some effect on things. Personally, I think status is used as the tie breaker when two people need Op-Up'ing but there is only one seat in the higher class. I never had any Op-Ups as silver, but that doesn't mean they don't happen.
• Number of times previously upgraded. I don't think this makes a difference on VS, like it does with BA. I am not even convinced they track it. This year alone, I have had more than 3 Op-Up's from Premium to Upper and I still have at least 6 more flights to go before the end of the year. Whenever you get Op-Up'd, you get moved to G class and will have to retroactively claim the miles for the underlying fare (that being said, recently the miles have credited automatically, so this issue may have been fixed now). So I don't think the computer knows the difference between a normal G and one VS assigns in this scenario. But I do believe there is a note on your account to show it was a freebie and not a paid mileage upgrade.
• Booking direct with VS makes no difference. 99% of my travel is done through a travel agent and this has never seemed to influence Op-Up's - but it does make messing with the ticket in other ways impossible.

Well, thats most of my knowledge on the subject. Based on flying both BA and VS regularly and hunting for upgrades like a sport. I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten as many as I have.