And now a seat opened up in F - and I am first of 12 in the upgrade list it may be literally zero difference in my trip if I end up back in F, and that flight credit is still on the books. If all goes off without a hitch I will update here, but getting refunded half the cost of my round trip ticket for nothing seems a good deal to me

Oh, and if someone wants to buy that F seat for the 55 minute flight, it'll cost them $1,902. I guess my only chance of not being back in F now is a deadheading pilot, an AA exec or VIP getting on at the last minute (fat chance), or if this flight is canceled or has an equipment swap. No one crazy enough to spend that much or use an SWU for such a short flight. Wonderful.