ah, gotcha. if it's just oversold then yeah i think i can figure out what happens here. looks like my best options are either SDC'ing (or buying a new ticket) to something else, or hawking the seatmap for the blocked seats to open up. this is very helpful, thanks all!

and yeah i'm still a 1k if that matters, but i'm guessing that not really (except for upgrade possibilities). on a W fare if anyone's interested too. i actually bought it a few days ago and it was interesting because i distinctly remember inventory was available in S or above, and i ended up getting priced a W fare and then when i looked at my reservation it said all seat assignments were taken.