Originally Posted by
CeruleanBlue
My plan B is to call Customer Service and check if they have J by voucher, then ask them to book a Y award seat and upgrade to J. Kind of bypassing the system. This has worked most of the time.
Worked well this way the few times I needed that.
It's just a quirk (feature) that AY has different fare buckets for J-redemption and J-upgrade. With the voucher (and points, obviously) you can have whichever is available.