This one doesn’t feel like a success.

Booked 7-1/2 weeks in advance, CLE-ORD-GRU; and return.
Paid $810 more than lowest coach, to get a V-fare (no W fares listed).

ORD-GRU – cleared when boarding the plane. There were 10 open seats, 23 on the upgrade list. I was #3. Strangely, there was 1 open GF seat, and 20 waitlisted for an upgrade to that seat! Not sure how this was possible.

GRU-ORD – cleared two days before the ord-gru departure. This flight flew with 5 empty BF seats.

So, for over 7 weeks, I was wondering if I simply gave UA $810 extra bucks