Re: Flying business/first class
Yes they do. I have been upgraded due to that a number of times.
That happens in the following scenario:
All the Economy Class seats on a flight are fully booked and there’s people on the waiting list for this flight. The airline will then check whether there are available seats in Business Class. If that is the case they will then look for passengers who do have a seat in Economy Class and are Gold level members of their frequent flyer program. Those people are then upgraded to Business and the Economy seat they vacated is given to someone from the waiting list. If there is still people on the waiting list after upgrading all the Gold level members, they will then start upgrading the Silver level members and give their Economy seats to people on the waiting list, provided there is still enough space in Business Class.