Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
Yes, and that's always been the case, particularly when it became the best for kneeroom (but not necessarily legroom). On this particular flight I would suspect row 5 will be the last to lose the middle seats, but it would be very unusual to have more than 3 or 4 new Gold bookings, probably less, so my guess is that only 3A won't get an empty seat, and that's due to presumably a couple in 3B and C.
Sounds plausible. I got my first UK domestics in a few month. So the best strategy seems to be to check the seatmap via manage my booking shortly before the flights and if it fills rather fast to switch from row 1 to row 2 (or 3 or 4).