I cancelled my original reservation, and was told the amount I would get refunded (to my cc) included the "luxury" tax on vip's from cdg to jfk.
It seems customer service was able to see the most recent e-vip, which was used to upgrade me for the jfk to cdg segment (that only cleared on 2/6); a few months ago when I made the reservation, "c" class for cdg-jfk was available and that vip was pulled at that time (and was charged the "luxury tax")--this vip, cs was NOT able to see.
cs sent me back to exp desk, and they were able to get all the e-vip's redeposited and then pulled for the flight I had on hold. [I made sure, via expert flyer, that "c" class was available for all segments before I put the ticket on hold ]