I liked yours too. I always see them take F seats when they are told any open seat.

Actually, I had a downgrade (sort of) recently and am not sure how to handle it. It seems sort of related to the OPs story.

I was on a paid F ticket (P fare) and stood by for an earlier flight. I assumed I was standing by for F and there was F available. At the gate when they called me the GA said they cleared all upgrades before working the standby list, so he would have to clear me into Y. I asked if I would get a refund for the difference and he said I would, so I reluctantly accepted and took my rear E- Middle.

After sitting on board for a bit, a different GA came on board (I thought he was coming move me back to F) and went up to another passenger and told him there was a no-show so his upgrade came through. I was a bit irked as I was on a paid F ticket, sitting in Y, and people who paid for Y (I assume) were getting upgraded.

Long story short, I called after landing and asked for a refund of the fare difference. After a long hold, I was told that I paid for P and was rebooked in Y, and that the Y fare I flew in was more expensive and I actually owed them a balance. When I protested, they said they already spoke to their supervisor and they are willing to waive the difference and not charge me, but they can’t refund anything. I then e-mailed, explained the story, and requested the fare difference between what was available at the time I bought and P, or the average difference back based on load, or simply an RPU and no money back. They replied and said they would give me 10,000 miles as the upgrade list was processed incorrectly, but they could not give me a refund. I was and still am irked.