Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Originally Posted by Often1
1. You can't hold a seat on another carrier. AA may show it, but it's not out of Cathay's inventory until Cathay specifically reserves it and it's paid for (with miles, currency or whatever).
2. I would get your ducks in a row with all 4 of you confirmed with e-tickets to cover all segments for all travelers, before tinkering with anything. As you are finding out, this is a ponderous process with a lot to go wrong.
It is patently false that an AAdvantage member cannot hold an award seat on a partner carrier until the seat is paid for. With the exception of AA partner LAN (which does not permit such holds) and IB (which only permits a one-day hold), AAdvantage award reservations on AA and its other partners
can be held for five days, as long as the reservation is made sufficiently far in advance (I think at least 14 or 21 days out).
There is the separate issue of IT problems/phantom availability which might lead to the inability to actually get a partner-award seat ticketed. But that's a very different issue.