Great to hear that everything worked out ok for you! They like to try and sell as many J seats as they can - I guess they figure there is some businessman out there that needs the seat and will buy a full fare ticket. The best waitlist and sometimes, the day before DL will release some seats. Anyway, just make sure you are on the "Priority Waitlist" so that if they only release a few seats, you get them before everybody else. A lot of agents don't do that automatically.
I made a thread a few weeks ago and asked about the F seat thing. They will definately let you give your seat to her in F. Also, if you give her your seat, will they let you get a medallion upgrade? Probably not?
SR