Originally Posted by
yyzgigi
Continue to monitor the United flight for available business class seats. United tends to be pretty stingy about releasing in advance, but at the last minute if the front is empty they often make rewards seats available. If it opens, you'll have to call Aeroplan to re-issue as United sees your reservation as economy regardless of the number of point you spent for it.
Afaik UA only operates Y-only CRJs on the ORD-YWG route, so that's a moot point.
However, the fact that the connecting flight has no J/F cabin should make it easier to obtain lounge access (in case one has the misfortune of dealing with a grumpy UA agent)