That makes sense. I overheard a guy at the IAD United Club last Thursday mentioning that he was a lobbyist and he was on my flight in from ORD this morning.
Flight this morning was super strange: they said it was full, 47 people were on the upgrade list (I never see that many on this flight) and then there were 29 no-shows. I've been on this flight (first ORD-IAD on United on Monday morning) probably 25 times this year and have never seen anything like it.