Originally Posted by ijgordon

No, the reward ticket does not book into the "F" bucket, that's just upgrades. I believe the free ticket books into "E". If F opens up and no E then an upgrade will be processed, but the free ticket will not clear into First class.

However, when you get to the airport and the flight is turned over to the gate agents, the reward ticket will be prioritized higher than any upgrades on the standby list.