gregas

I could use some advice here. On united.com, I booked the following business class award:

LAX-IST-AYT,AYT-SAW-TBS,IST-DUB-LAX

All legs are on TK except DUB-LAX. When I booked on united.com, I got an email that said it could take up to 24 hours to confirm the DUB-LAX on EI. A couple of days later, I came back to united.com to find the reservation entirely gone with no warning, no email.

I called them and was told by two different reps that the EI leg was "unconfirmed". They told me that actually means "unavailable". It still shows as available on united.com.

I would be happy to sidestep EI, but I've searched and it's my only option to get back from IST on an award ticket in my time frame (early July 2016).

1) How does the EI award booking process really work?
2) How can I tell if an EI award is actually available?
3) Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Greg