Just got off a long call with United. Booked a star alliance award two days ago, and it wouldn't ticket. It kept saying "Your purchase is confirmed. You will be promptly notified once the internal processing of your reservation has been finalized."

Finally they figured out that it wouldn't ticket because I'd requested an automatic award upgrade; it was a business class award but one of the segments was in economy. Apparently, on partner awards those don't work (even though the economy segment was United.) They removed the automatic upgrade request, and it went through just fine. They said the only way I could upgrade that leg was to watch for availability and then call in.

Anybody ever heard of that? It's a short segment, so not a huge deal, but I'd really like to be on the automatic award upgrade list.