So, got them to reissue the tickets and they processed the GUC. They also "made space" on the one segment that did not clear so I am now upgraded all the way thru...

The agent I talked to was awesome. She said the rule used to be that the flight had to be ticketed. But she said they changed the rules for GUCs a couple of weeks ago to say the travel had to be completed by the date. She talked to a super since I was already waitlisted to get an exception. So looks like going forward need to travel by the date.