3/19: DAY-ORD-HPN (DAY-ORD on CR2)
ORD-HPN UA 3444
1K with non-premier companion on same res.
3 F seats open
T fare
$99 per/person to F at check-in declined.

The $99 does not represent even 1/3 of the difference between the purchase price and an M/B/Y or F-class fare (update: it's actually about 1/8 of the difference). Before OLCI the upsell offer had been over $500.

Sometime between 12 and 6 hours before departure I went from #1 on the waitlist with 3 available to #1 with 0 available. 2 of the 3 newbies show up on the list as cleared.

Update: Got the last F seat at the gate (1 pax did not check in, as F was full with 5 checked in at T-30m). My companion was #1 on the list.

On a related note, the buy-up for the same route/fare class next Friday & Monday is $814 (HPN-ORD-DAY) and $784 (DAY-ORD-HPN). Both are the same fare, the same carriers and aircraft (S5 and G7 on E70s and CR7s), all with 5/6 open in F. The total comes to the difference between what I paid and a B fare (no M fare on this route).