Is this only for international flights? Because similarly, we were on LAX-HKG in November in PE. We pre-ordered a meal (not special meal) and saw people from regular Y getting oped up to J. We were Plat and EXP but didn't put in for upgrades. They cleared all the upgrades, but then were calling people from regular Y - we couldn't figure it out. It would make sense if it was due to the meal selection.