Departure: Mar23
Return: April4

Seattle to Hiroshima

But my issue isn't really that there is this issue between carriers that United couldn't know until confirmed by ANA. My issue is United should have waited to debit my account, until they knew the tickets were confirmed.

They knew within minutes (minutes; not hours or days). They could have waited that long, before debiting my account. They already had the number. AND, then after notifying them of this, they are STILL taking reservations for a flight they KNOW can't be booked.

I just checked again and now it's even lower... $1012 per person. But the 3113 leg is sold out at that price. Why would they now be quoting a lower price, when it can't be booked? Because they know they still get to sit on your money for a week. I even checked by trying to book through ANA and ANA says those seats are already gone.

But if someone tries booking it through United, United will gladly take their money. And when they get to Tokyo, they will find that the ticket was declined by ANA.

I guess what I wonder is, is all booking now by trial and error?

Is there anyway to know if a flight is actually confirmed, before they take your money? Or is everything now just trial and error? I would think the safest way is by going directly to the airlines, which is what I did. But they still took the money, before they confirmed the reservation.

I will have to go through this process again and want to avoid paying for a ticket and 30 minutes later finding out it's not actually available.