Originally Posted by
RealHJ
It's best to refrain from doing so. It gums up availability for everyone else, and the inventory is not guaranteed to go back to the available pool when you cancel the hold.
I don't doubt your observation about inventory not returning after cancellation. But as someone who booked with UA and AA miles before the pandemic when cancellation fees were $200 a pop but elites got them waived and bragged that holding multiple tickets and cancelling all but one of them was part of the bennies, well they ruined it first
I think that holding for five days at the very opening of calendar is unlikely to be significant compared to what elites did before cancel fees went away