I just checked in online for my brother who is Gold. EWR-PBI for June 15th Flt # 1854. The pda site shows 7 open FC seats.

On the website, instead of getting the message "if a first class seat is available, would you like to upgrade" it gave me the "buy up to first class for $260" message.

When the boarding pass is printed, it does say "added to the FC standby list"

Why do they offer the buy-up to an elite?
Are they trying to confuse elites to buy up?