Interesting that it only comes back as an A fare. Perhaps the issue is that they are not bothering to load the R fare into this search? Or perhaps there simply is no R fare on the LAX-EWR flight, even when it is available for the TATL segment, and that causes it to defer to B economy? Either way, there is limit to how much trouble the customer should need to go to in booking a flight. Since the LH group almost always has comparable flights available for booking on UA for the same or less price, it seems that UA has little interest in actually selling PE TATL trips to people in LA. I have utilized the multi-trip function successfully to recreate some fares I find on Google flights with good luck, but I have never been able to force a TATL transcon into PE on at least a dozen attempts, including a few in the last month. Perhaps they are finally starting to correct this issue, but I will reserve judgement for now. BTW, I did not state that I tried two years ago, I stated I have trying regularly for the last 2-3 years, and by trying I mean I am neurotically checking airfare on certain routes weekly if not more frequently. That said, the routes usually involve an intra-EU flight, so perhaps that third segment is the real culprit here, despite not affecting PE flight searches for LH/etc.