Originally Posted by
channa
This is not the first report of CO op-upping some random person for whatever reason. While most carriers do this by status, many CO employees don't seem to have status on their radar, so stuff like this happens.
Never miss a chance, do you. Of course, the most likely explanation is that all elite passengers had already been upgraded through EUA or otherwise.
Most carriers do not have an automatic upgrade process for elites, so they process op-ups by status (sometimes) or randomly (sometimes).