I had never noticed that status before. As a Gold, I had to search tons of same day flights and eventually found a couple empty SLC to west coast routes that showed "available" for me instead of just "eligible" or "Not-eligible" or "airport only".

So I guess if I check in and show up 10th on the upg list with 3 seats available, then I can search other flights that same day for the "upg available" status and try to SDC?