Last week, my husband and I were flying ATL-SEA. I am MVPG, he has no elite status, and I had booked our tickets using a companion fare. On the upgrade list, I was
#3 , he was not listed at all, and there were probably 5 other people listed after me.
The monitor at the gate showed 16 FC booked and 16 checked in by the time boarding started, so we settled in to our coach seats. A few minutes before door closure, the FA came to tell me that I had been upgraded to FC. My husband and I had agreed ahead of time that if I got an upgrade I would take it, so that's what I did.
On the way out from SEA-ATL, we were both upgraded to FC (and on the same companion fare reservation). I was very surprised to get an upgrade both ways as my experience has been that SEA-ATL-SEA is not usually available. It made a tough trip nicer as we were traveling due to an unexpected death in my family.