while in over a decade have truly never seen this, i did experience this last year in DEN. There were 4 open seats at dep time in First.

when Mrs CALMSP and I were cleared in coach, I asked the gate agent to put us in the empty bulkhead, which she did.

After we were on board, gate agent handed the flight attendant a piece of paper, which she then came to me and the Mrs, and my parents and said you can have the 4 open seats in first. However, we were not first on the list, and the 2 people ahead of us were right behind me. So I gave the 2 seats to my parents and said that the gentleman and his wife behind me (revenue) were actually ahead of us. However, the flight attendant did not move them as she wasn't sure who they were. So the two seats in first ended up leaving empty.

I felt embarrassed to say the least that the normal clearing of standbys and upgrades was not done at the appropriate time at the gate which would elminate any last minute runarounds.