Originally Posted by
ordbkk
This reminded me of something the United rep told me after she tried in vain to call Air China and have me tickets reinstated. The CA rep told her the only option was to add us to the award waitlist, but the United staff has no way to do that for another carrier. So you're probably right, CA does have a waitlist for award seats.
Award waitlists (for carriers that allow them) are usually only for members of their own FF program.
While it may be unconventional for UA to waitlist another carrier's award segment, it is technically possible to do so in Shares. Due to your extenuating situation, somehow I feel that if you escalate it further, they may relent in waitlisting the segment (but then there's no guarantee that it will clear).