*sigh*
Sorry AP but I feel you are still confused by this whole shadow thing.
Convoluted explanations of middle seats (in Y) being empty, "shadows" are NOT published benefits of any status, but appear to be more prevelant at the Platinum and Platinum One levels. Having said that, they are far from guaranteed (I flew Y MEL-SYD recently in row 5 and non status people all around me).
The fact that you have had an empty seat by you a few times since you have been Gold is almost certainly more of a co-incidence than a given benefit of your status by QF.
As I expressed just above even as a P1, which is far above Gold in the pecking order, it is not guaranteed, and in J it's almost never the case.
I'm not trying to be mean, but you're making statements based on what I feel are incorrect assumptions
in my view anyway.
