I know I should probably buy a lottery ticket after what I'm about to say, but it's a data point that there's still some utility in SWUs. Myself and one companion were booked in PE on a flight to Europe in mid October. There were 2 seats left in J, on a 787-8, which the app was offering cash upgrades to for $4500 each. Seeing little hope, I went ahead and called last week and got wait-listed for SWUs, figuring it was a long shot. Two days later, AA cleared us into the last 2 seats in J! While I can't wrap my head around the logic behind this, I'm nonetheless thankful. It seems that releasing C inventory has little to do with how full J actually is, even 3 months out.