So to clarify the ticketing part; when I initially called the United help desk, the agent (and supervisor) looked at the reservation and confirmed the ticket # was good and it probably would just take a few days for ET to edit the reservation on their end. So is that not considered a "ticketed" reservation? Does every itinerary change equate to a new ticketing?

My take away is that an airline can advertise and sell a service (whether their own product or that of an alliance member) and can confirm this service (on multiple occasions) but ultimately has no obligation to fulfill their end of the agreement nor inform the consumer of their inability to fulfill the agreement prior to the agreed upon travel date. And should the consumer make financial commitments based on the airline's confirmation of service which they have no obligation to fulfill, they are out of luck.

Luckily enough for us, we are months away from travel so have time to find other options.