I've had a hell of a time, as many others have, trying to make reservations with UA, especially since I have some of those old type B vouchers laying around that I want to expunge.

I read somewhere here that if I go through the booking process and then hit CANCEL right before purchasing, I can set up a call with UA and have the agent book it for me.

This is fine and dandy, but I find that the phone cost >> online cost for the flights that I want.

The agent just told me how to hold a reservation on the online engine:

1) make a reservation

2) on the payment page, click on the CASH option (western union logo)

3) When the 3 options show up, click on "Airport ticketing office"

Bam, you just created a reservation with a 24 hour hold that you can ticket using the Type B voucher