OP, you need to be clear. What are you trying to ticket, an intra-Brazil itin (i.e., wholly within Brazil), or an international ticket with some -- but not all -- segments within Brazil?

If the former, the situation between UA and JJ is fluid. When I booked JFK-GUR-GIG a few months ago, unaware 1K desk agents would tell me the partnership had been suspended, but when prodded to check it out, told me that it's only intra-Brazil awards that were suspended. But that was several months ago, so this may have changed.

The process I used for booking my tickets was smooth, if annoying. Step One, you request flights. Step Two, UA tells you whether they're available or not. This takes anywhere from instantly to hours. Step Three, you have to wait 12 hours for JJ to "confirm." Step Four, after they've confirmed, you have until the end of the next business day to ticket. So you call at 10am, get UA to request the seats. JJ has until 10pm to confirm. You than have until close of business the next day to ticket. Note that I was never told to call back in another 12 hours -- either the itin comes back confirmed after 12 hours, or it doesn't.

My suspicion -- I could be wrong -- is that your problem is trying to book a JJ domestic itin with agents who aren't aware of the suspension, or maybe the suspension was officially lifted but remains in practice. This would explain why they go through the motions of requesting your itin, then force you to start all over the next day.

I'd call the 1K desk and ask for a SD to figure out what's what. There's no reason you should be getting the runaround.