doesn't sound correct unless economy minus (non-economy plus seats) were completely filled by the time she purchased the ticket or went to select seats, in which case the system would request $$ for the open E+ seats to secure them before the gate.

of course, the "enhancements" are coming a mile a minute right now, so anything's possible. most here on this forum would not be affected by this type of policy change so if real it's not beyond the realm of possibility that it went unreported.