If my friend (Friend 1) is a Continental silver and books a reward ticket for a flight in August for Friend 2 now (Friend 1 won't be on the fligth) but becomes a Continental gold in a couple of weeks, would Friend 2 get a reward ticket with the benefits of Gold status or Silver status?

Essentially:
1. Friend 1 books reward ticket for Friend 2 on 5/31. Friend 1 is silver.
2. Friend 1 obtains gold status on 6/31.
3. Friend 2 takes flight on 8/31. Does he get ticketed with silver or gold benefits?

This is actually the situation and we would be booking now instead of waiting a couple of weeks for him to avoid the increase from $25 to $100 for cancelling. I'm primarily interested in Friend 1's ability to put Friend 2 in an ELR seat whenever Friend 1 gets Gold status.

Thanks for any help you guys can give.