Originally Posted by
LufthansaFlyer
Long sell is not forcing a reward seat to be opened. Its asking the airline (Lh in this case) to "sell" the seat to UA if its available, but not updated on 3rd party searches like ANA tool or UA's site. In one instance I called at noon and no seat was open. At 3p, I called and booked it. It's that fluid sometimes.
Originally Posted by
SEA1K4EVR
This has also been referred to as a "manual sell" for award tickets and it was something PMUA agents could/would do for quite a long time up until a couple years ago when it was expressly forbidden by the airline. Manual or Long selling ran counter to UA's policy of Starnet blocking so agents were told not to do it and risked their jobs if they did. I expect that policy is still in force and you won't be able to find anyone to do it for you.
Thanks to you two and the others who've shed light on this phenomenon, but are we actually talking about two different things here? LF seems to be talking about a situation where the award flight is available but for whatever reason not appearing on a given site. It seems that SEA1K is talking about a situation where the award does appear as available on a site, but that Starnet blocking means/meant that UA would block an MP member from redeeming miles for it. So, if I understand this correctly, the OP and LH are just talking about an itinerary that UA will allow mileage redemption for, but that it will only appear if the CSR is specifically asked to search for the date and flights involved.
Do I have that right?
Regardless...LF, how have you been able to know to ask for )and somtimes get) such specific award itineraries, though? Do you simply go fishing, or is the LH or some other site helpful in indicating award availability even it can't be found at UA, NH, EF, whatever?