Originally Posted by
hbcobra
... Has anyone had success with booking this kind of an award ticket recently? Is there any kind of magic language that I should use?
Unfortunately this is a YMMV, it generally will take multiple tries to find an agent willing to this and may lose patience first. Note never argue or make big deal about tis or your reservation will be marked as having been told no and then you are dead for sure.
Yes all you say above is correct BUT the reality is this can be a challenge. This thread is a very long history of inconsistency although there is a trend toward no more ioften