Not really connected with the original question but the entitlement culture is different from state to state as well as country to country. As an englishman living in New York city I find entitlement culture much worse here than in the UK as a whole, but also worse than in Connecticut where I lived before.
Mrs J was BA gold for 5 years and in that time she was upgraded twice both out of LHR.
On a recent trip to Japan with continental the 1st/business cabins were only 1/3 full so so not many people upgraded there then.