To add to what me4 said;
These days, you're probably not going to get anything under any circumstance unless you ask for it (if you don't hold any status with a particular airline). There's not a lot of goodwill being spread around by the airlines to infrequent travellers (and precious little even to those that DO fly a lot). Not suggesting anyone be a PITA, just commenting that I think it wise that you are trying to learn the rules BEFORE needing to know them.