Yes -agreed. As I said on another thread, Wednesday July 3rd I was on DL64 ATL-MAN and I got an OpUp (4A) but wanted to sit next to my wife. I thanked the GA and then politely declined and asked for my original 10A (A330) EC seat back. The GA thanked me very much for letting him know in advance and proceeded to OpUp the next elite in line (presumably) and gave me my BP fpor 10A.

As we were boarding in SKY the couple in front of us the machine beeped and spewed out his OpUp. He said, "I dont want this upgrade - nevermind, I will give it to the lucky person sat next to my wife". Said lucky person (10 HK?)was ecstatic (almost certainly a kettle) and said she had never sat in first in her life. The GA seemed displeased.

Long story short, it is best to refuse in advance to the GA can award the upgrade to the next elite , even though the random kettle thought her wildest dream had come true.