Yup they hide the 'put on hold' button in the payment options which is handy.
The ice cream sunday is only on long haul stuff unfortunately! Shame though
I slum it in AA Y on the odd occasion, but I can count the number on two hands (the F/J ones require many many hands heh). Your other option is if you know someone with AA SWU's (system wide upgrades, awarded to AA EXP's) they can upgrade you to F for up to three segments on a single PNR, per SWU. It'll at least get you into F if you can find someone who can help
Unfortunately I don't know anyone.
I used to have a friend at virgin and I have a few travel agent friends - but they all work for FCL so dont have time/wont give me any bargains (plus compared to airline staff TA bargains are super over the top expensive).