Originally Posted by Waterhorse

BA do not ram their premium cabins full of random people, or at least they do not view it this way. Unless the rear cabins are oversold there will be no upgrades - there is no commercial reason to do so. IF the rear cabins are oversold then there will be upgrades, there are several ways you can do this - many on this board would suggest that frequent fliers and those with status should get these upgrades. To a certain extent this is the case, but BA also use this as an opportunity for those close to a status jump to show them a higher class of travel, the belief being that show them a glimpse of something better and they will be more inclined to pay for it next time. The flip side of this is that FFs would soon learn to use the various tools online to identify which flights are liable to status upgrades so preferentially travel on these flights and to gain upgrades for free. Better to use these upgrades as a upselling tool than to gift free upgrades to no sales advantage. Either way, you get what you pay for and free upgrades are just that, BA decide who they want to give them to, in this sense it is their train set and they get to decide who they give away upgrades to.