I am not an elite, but I did get an upgrade with my class T award ticket.
On my last birthday last year, I was travelling from LAX to HKG and I was holding an award ticket (class T) with special meal request VOML. I believed I had hit the 3 criteria for not getting the upgrade: 1, Non-revenue tickets; 2, Special meals; 3, non-elite status; and therefore I did not ask for anything while checking in.
The Econ Cabin was pretty full loaded. I did not know I got upgraded until I boarded the plane and turned to my seat. I saw my seat already been sat by someone else. I approached a FA and she said the ground staff found out that day was my birthday and issued an upgrade to business.
Strangely enough, I could see the Business Cabin is almost full - leaving only 1 or at most 2 seats vacant.