It´s not only hearsay, it´s total garbage! I was one of the top ´Bangkok´BA B747 specialists until earlier this year. What you describe is complete nonsense- what little ´select´areas are you talking about? The whole upper deck of a 747? Fancy upgrading of staff as you describe does not take place when full fare payers are inconvenienced. Sometimes people are moved around if there are seat defects (inflight entertainment, reclining problems) and true some staff may replace on that seat, or passengers and/or staff even upgraded to that deficient seat if there are overbooking problems in other cabins, but you are spouting rubbish and should not be allowed to say such unsubstantiated things here. Had it occured, I would have been most interested in finding out what was going on, but such manouevrings are not so easy to execute.