the terms and conditions state an upgrade sponsored by a platinum 1 receives the same priority as a platinum 1.
as a platinum 1 would never be in the position to be considered along with bronze, silver and golds, the only interpretation is that P1 upgrades are all considered at the same time. you cannot have the 'same high priority' for something you would never encounter!
the only time the terms and conditions could be manipulated to make sense otherwise would be if a P1 booked a day before departure, and put in an upgrade request at the same time. they would then be top of the pecking order amongst bronzes and silvers.
but that would be a very limited interpretation of the rule.
This is the thing - when it was explained by
Red Roo some time ago, this is not the interpretation that was given.
It would seem on the face of it that your understanding is what holds true. Which of course means anyone here who is related to a P1 has almost a 100% chance of getting an upgrade registered on their behalf, irrespective of the lower status. (They would likely have a good chance if the
Red Roo interpretation held true as well, but in the "obvious" interpretation their chances are a lot better as they will be considered above all Platinums who have registered for an upgrade on the same flight).
In fact, the QFF T&Cs don't make a mention of this feature. It is only mentioned on the common information pages relating to Upgrades, as well as the Tier Benefits page under the P1 section, which reads the text quoted by
danny09.
As it stands, upgrades are considered in three timed batches: Platinum Ones (7 days before departure); Platinums (48 hours) and then the rest (24 hours). So a P1 sponsoring a lower status member will still give a very good chance for the latter to get an upgrade, as the worst they will have in front of them is other P1 and WP members. The flight would need to have very few upgrade seats left and/or have a huge number of P1 and WP members registering for an upgrade in order for the sponsored request to be unsuccessful.
As I would understand it, if we take your interpretation, if an NB was sponsored by a P1, then it is possible that within the 7 days before departure (e.g. let's say at 5 days before), the NB member will receive an SMS saying that their upgrade has cleared. This means the NB member has been considered for an upgrade well and truly before any other non-P1 member, including WPs. Again, nice if that were true, but that doesn't match what we have been told by
Red Roo.
Now if the P1 and NB were travelling together, then this whole discussion is moot.