I have the opposite problem for my first flight in 2022. Booked a flight in Oct PHX to SFO that has been affected by schedule changes. At t-100 EF showed C7 J7 and at least 11 open seats in J on the map. No automatic upgrade at any time. Since check in I have watched 8 seats book and now J3 so I think these are not just seat assignments. Now that the waitlist appears, I am the only person on the waitlist. Something does not seem right.

What I am worried about is I have multiple tickets that I booked in advance that all got rebooked for schedule changes and I am concerned something is wrong with the ticket that is not getting picked up in the sweeps.

Of course they could be just trying to sell those seats to day of travel upgraders but I have never seen such a delay in processing.