Final 3 - Yikes! Did you mention this to any other AF people?
Aksai - don't know about BA but a mate is an EI gold holder - when they lost his bags during the Glasgow snowstorm in 2001 no sign for a few days. He rang the gold reservations line and said "I know this isn't lost bags but I'm in deep sh!t" - sorted pdq, including a promise to refund expenses on emergency purchases.
All my TA flights involve an Aer Lingus run, so both of my WT+ upgrades were handed to me by EI staff at ORK, though maybe they were computer assigned. The J upgrade was during a blizzard at YYZ so they may have been packing them in to accommodate cancellations from previous flights. I do try to buy on ba.com and maybe that helps as they don't have to pay agent fees. I am still p!ssed about 25% miles - rather too deep a cut - but upgrades are a good way to keep me happy, and thus I tell my family to fly BA over EI or AC.