Originally Posted by
Jay in STAUG
Quite sure not an op-up--they were December flights, and it was a ghost town in economy (and there were empty seats left in PE, too). This isn't an actual benefit for OWE, but it seems like this happens fairly frequently, if the discussion boards are to be believed!
It's not an explicit benefit for OWEs, but status does play a part when they choose to do upgrades.
I've been op-up'd on CX & QF (both Y to PE, & PE to J), but both have been oversell situations.
And an empty PE seat could be a non-operational seat that they couldn't sell. I've encountered this on CX flights. It's nice sitting next to one.