Just booked my trip and will enjoy it in May!

The booking process is not easy. As some of you have said, the agents may make up their own rules. The first agent told me that I should fly across Pacific Ocean from ORD to HKG via one city only as there are so many choices. She refused to listen to me anymore when the first two segments had been described.

I hanged up and called again for the second agent. When I told her that my flight will be transatlantic and with layovers in Europe, she said OK. However, she still refused to book me on the 3 domestic segments (ORD-IAH-MIA-EWR) as "they are unnecessarily routed". The third male agent denied my plan in a similar way as the lady in my first call did.

My fourth attempt brought me to the ultimate success. It was a 25-minute long call. I told the agent all details of my flights one by one, and she checked the availability of First Class (or First/Business for 2-class cabin) subsequently. Tax was computed manually. She didn't question why I offered such a long zigzag at all.

The whole process took me about 75 minutes, but it is worth doing so although there was so much hassle.

Thanks again for your help from all of you!

One more question. Can I use the lounge at ORD, IAH and MIA? My flight is an international flight but I am not leaving the States from these three airports.

I have no status in either Mileage Plus or OnePass.