I don't know.

The information she gave me was more info than I started with, but still left a lot to be desired. Basically, she said that:

(1) Phone res agents have better control over ticketing than does the automated process (vs. it being the complete black box some agents have claimed when pax have called in about ticketing delays).

(2) There are multiple queues for different purposes. (I didn't get her to elaborate on those purposes; just that, "This one is the right queue for this [award] ticket, and it usually returns in a minute or so at the most.") Having ticketed partner awards post-3/3, I suspect there are separate ones for that purpose, but that's sheer supposition on my part.

(3) She could see something about where the request was in the queue (either position or status), but had no real control over it while it was in the queue.

I was kind of hoping the ticketing would take longer than it did so I could keep her talking; she said she normally works the rate desk and was amazed at some of the 1Ks she dealt with who had no idea about what GPUs were, what the fare buckets were, etc.

I'd love for some insight from UA Insider about the process, but I bet that UA is going to be rather tight-lipped about it.