Actually, this strand has become a bit confused. I was not after an upgrade at all, just wondering about the inability to book business class on this flight in any fashion except for full fare paid J-class. I will be using a FF ticket for the FAQ next weekend, and found it curious that with the front cabin showing empty on ITN and CP's own system (as confirmed by the agent), they would not confirm a front cabin FF seat. In effect, they are not offering any FF seats in business on this flight. (The AC showing C0 only confirms no upgrade/award inventory on the flight; CP never shows this inventory on ITN.) I found this to be unusual since one assumes there is at least one award seat per flight in each class of service that should be bookable, expecially by Gold/Elite or SE/ExecPlat once a request has gone forward.

I may check again next week, since flying out Tuesday evening would save me $150 for a hotel, but would give me time to have dinner with friends. The Wednesday flights I am confirmed in still permit me to be back home in time for my friend's visit.