1. Yes, they offered to sell you an upgrade. But did they do so _before_ processing elite upgrades? I'd venture to say that you were probably offered that $500 upgrade after all elite upgrades had cleared.

2. I have heard reports that in the case of transpac and transatl flights, airlines occasionally hold inventory in order to offer paid upgrades at check in. They have a right to make money, after all, and if they can find someone to pay $800, that does a lot more for their bottom line (800 dollars more, to be exact) than the free upgrade to the elite. Furthermore, I've never heard of this happening on domestic flights. Airlines may offer inexpensive ($50 for a short hop, a few hundred dollars for a transcon) upgrades at check in to non elites, but they vritually NEVER do so before clearing elites. (That's because elite upgrades clear as many as 100 hours earlier... by the time the non-elite is offered that upgrade at the gate, the elites already have first class boarding passes.)

Again... Scott is right that airlines offer paid upgrades to non-elites. But elites almost always have access to those upgrades before non-elites.

3. Scott is absolutely bonkers to recommend to people that non-elites can routinely get upgrades at check-in. If you're someone who flies a lot and you want to be occasionally (or frequently!) upgraded, get yourself elite status.

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