Originally Posted by
critten
They see documentation of cancellation came from me, but according to the websupport the person, the person who cancelled went on as a guest (not logged in to my account) to cancel without logging in
Okay, that matches what I was told. So it wasn't an official Air China cancellation, it was somebody doing it anonymously.
Originally Posted by
critten
Which i guess may be a stretch to blame air china, but I know I would always log in to get better premier availability.
There is no evidence that points to Air China any more or less than anybody else who has access to your confirmation number.
Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
This sounds suspiciously like whoever cancelled your award ticket grabbed the space right away. The odds of this happening naturally within ten minutes for some particular flight when there's no relation between the person who cancelled it and the new tickets would seem unlikely.
United is only saying there is no longer any open award space. It's possible that the cancelled award seats do not immediately become available, so United finds none even though the seats are open.
Although it's possible the seats do become immediately available, and then my money is on a travel broker who accepts extra money to "find" open space where nobody else can.