First, if you have no status, then you're not entitled to that seat without paying the premium charge for it. If you were entitled to select that seat, why didn't you?

But I will agree with you that I am rather annoyed that UA GA's will often clear BE standbys into Y+ and exit row seats when there empty middles in the back where these customers *should* be assigned seats, leaving the empty Y+ seats empty beside elite customers. And if that is annoying, then you can go one step further where Delta GAs do the same thing, but worse, clearing BE standbys into C+ instead of an available seat in Y.

So perhaps the moral of the story is to buy BE, don't select a seat, and hope you get cleared into a premium seat that you didn't pay for.