As I mentioned in the previous reply...
Sign in to Airtran.com
Sign in to Southwest.com
Buy an itinerary that includes an Airtran flight.
After completing the purchase, SW sends you to Airtran.com to select and pay for a seat. The color coding shows rows 12-15 are $18-$20, but that seat fare was waived once I selected it. So Airtran.com "knows" that I am elite, even after November 1.
But... then I tried to call the Airtran Elite desk to use 4 points to buy an upgrade. She said I could not do that unless the ticket was purchased through Airtran. I pointed out this was impossible since Airtran.com won't issue tickets after Oct 31. She said the only way to get into Business Class was to pay full fare on Southwest.com.
A shot in the dark... I wonder if the ticket counter folks have a way of selling Airtran flights during the 11/1/14 to 12/28/14 period?