There are *always* award seats available, presuming there are free seats on the plane. I would wager that every single flight to FCO in 10 months time has award seats available.

The "cheap" seats, aka "saver awards" are limited, and always have been - but at least United offers the ability to pay more and get a non-capacity controlled seat (standard awards) which is more than many airlines offer.

As for the upgrade, yes, the co-pay ups the price you have to pay - but I'll bet it's still cheaper than paying for business. You don't mention where you're flying from, but for example SFO-FCO in "10 months" time will cost you about $6k in business - a lot more than $2400 and 40k miles.

Don't like it? Take your "loyalty" to another airline - except you'll find it's exactly the same (or worse) there.