VHF Flyer: no need to change the aftershave. The upgrade programs have gotten noticeably less generous in recent years. I was upgraded under their various programs, not "you look nice we'll upgrade you."
When I was flying American you got a certain number of upgrade stickers based on the mileage of the flights you took. The program was quite generous at the time and after a while I was getting enough stickers that I was usually in first class.
For a while Delta had a program where if you bought a full-fare ticket you got 1.3X the number of miles in frequent flyer miles. And then you could redeem a relatively low amount of miles for an upgrade. And when you flew in first class (even if you were upgraded), you got 2X miles. It was so poorly thought out that once you flew a couple times you could almost always upgrade and your frequent flyer balance was unchanged. Net result was that I was almost always able to upgrade. Great part is that I was consulting in Atlanta for, you guessed it, Delta. Great racket while it lasted.