Strange. It even happens to me (a lowly SEN) here and there, although not always and certainly not consistently as it used to be in my early SEN days (back in 1997), or even during my (short) FTL life.
Last time I was greeted, I was on a Sofia->Munich flight (Y) a couple of weeks ago, although I showed as a 1K on the manifest. Then again, judging from the crowd (a singleton, aka me!) in the SOF contract lounge, I must have been the only status pax on that flight.

Ahhh, those good old ...golden days! When I was always in long-haul paid coach! First time I was ever greeted (being an FTL occupying an aisle seat in the midsection of a packed FRA-ORD flight), I was so astonished, I kept thinking about it for a couple of hours at least! I had no clue about FF programs those (non FT) days, other than flying and spending miles... A gentleman sitting next to me (center seat!) was first greeted by name and I first thought he was a VIP or sumthin', although his seat and COS didn't actually support this theory. A follow-up "hello Mr andre1970" forced me to panegyrically reject my "VIP" hypothesis amidst brass bands and booming drums! It turned out that we were both FTLs, thence the greeting.

The most interesting part of that story though, is that (believe it or not) the guy turned out to be the "PDG" (CEO) of a major french multinational company. Three weeks later he offered me a 2-year contract in the company's HQs in Paris which I gladly accepted Who says seat blocking is always good?!

Nowadays, I rarely meet interesting fellow pax next to me. Then again, I'm always in long-haul C (or F) and seat blocking works just fine...