Upfares to J and I guess as you are pointing out, now to PE, are coach fares that get you a seat in J or PE as the case may be. The risk is in IRROPS they can give you a coach seat without paying compensation because it's still an economy fare.

So a bit of a gamble vs. say a discounted fare D or I in the case of J fares, no idea what the discounted version of PE is sold as. Maybe it is N after all but upfares to me are not the same as discounted fares. A D or I ticket gets you a J seat if you have to change. Assuming there are D or I seats but with IRROPS that should not matter.

When I flew AA more than I do now, I never chose YUP ( as they were called) for J seats in case of a problem.