Weird. I called yesterday at 2PM PST/5PM EST with no status and I heard "the current wait time is 24 minutes" immediately followed by "hello" two seconds after I put my phone down on speakerphone. I'm guessing their queue system isn't working very well right now, not that I'm complaining

OP, best time to call is 7am EST/4am PST. No hold time if you're one of the first. Night time is always rough. Try to time it to "when are most people in EST too busy to call?" and your life will be easier.

I once called at 8PM, sat for almost 2.5 hours of hold, at which point I fed a complicated but complete itinerary to the agent, she validated on her end, then she had to call the higher up department to do the pricing/finalizing, and we both waited on hold for an hour, at which point the department told her they wouldn't have time to do it before 12AM close, so they told her to make a file and tell me to call back the next day... So don't feel too bad about your hardships.