Just to tie up this thread, after much drama and acrimony and tears, we flew SFO-CLT-CDG outbound and DUB-CLT-SFO on the return.
Downgraded on the SFO-CLT segment to coach and solicited a 25,000 mile refund for the downgrade. Ended up paying 70,000 miles each for 3 segments in business and one segment in coach. It turned out... okay!