I've had the same thought as well. I was on a DCA-LAX flight a few weeks ago and didn't get the upgrade and had a person beside me in the middle seat. The person at the window seat was also gold. The flight was fairly full but there were a handful of empty middle seats and they were all towards the back. I don't think the person beside me had any status with AS (I had a quick glance at her boarding pass on her seat as she was arranging her luggage in the overhead bin) so why was she sitting next to two golds?