arkangel - thanks for the assistance. I had some luck with AA this am - I was able to get almost all of the flights I wanted. Here is where I am at:
11/1 5:42pm AA 154 ORD-MIA - wl for F
11/1 11:45pm AA 112 MIA-LHR - confirmed Business

11/3 12:10pm AA 173 LGW-RDU - wl for Business, then cleared 1 hr. later - yeah!
11/3 5:30pm AA 735 RDU-ORD - confirmed F

The price $455.20 (taxes included)

We wanted to go through St.Louis or BOS on the way home, but the wl for upgrades was closed. Also, on the outbound, we wanted to confirm upgrades all the way, but we had to switch airports in NY to do this. I have been trying to check the inventory for the MIA flight, but it does not come up in Galileo (german).