I too am getting a bit of a headache with the choice to make the story both abstract and missing some of the necessary information in post 1. Basically:

- 1A and C (or anything else) on a short haul flight: only one pax with Emerald status entitles the whole party to sit in row on, so it doesn't matter if "P" is with mrs p, p junior and p juniorette in seat 1 A-F and only of them is Gold that's good enough

- Row 1 in First on any plane: every person must have their own emerald card and dropping status at any point may well be kicked out at any point (not just the moment you are downgraded or soon after). That means trying your luck is very risky because it can - and does - happen that the system will not worry about you for weeks whilst rows 2 and 3 were free as a great back up, and suddenly kicks you in when the only seats free are 4E and 5E with neighbours you do not know, and you won't have a leg to stand on if that makes you outraged. So my recommendation there would be: if there is a seat left which would be "not such a bad alternative" even if you would have ideally preferred row 1, move there while you can.