Success!!!
Data point: the Friday flight within 24hrs succeeded but the Sunday one outside 24hrs, the link now works but then I get an error message. But Friday was the important one.
Edit to add: Tried a different flight/date and was able to link successfully so I'm suspecting that Sunday is blocked for comp invites (long weekend?)
Thank you for the additional options to try, [USER=52622]@exceladdict[/USER]. Really appreciated.