Originally Posted by
anabolism
Excellent questions, which unfortunately I don't have the knowledge to answer. When I've booked RTWs, the booking agent sets it up as an RTW. The AA RTW desk first puts in some basic information which identifies it as a RTW fare. JL agents take a lot of information down by hand first, then create the record. (I can't recall the process when QR or MH booked them.) It's possible that in some cases the airline has a front-end that establishes the type of fare first, and in others the segments would initially show confirmed but after type of fare is established they'd come back unconfirmed. I'd be very interested in knowing more about the process.
Me too. I've had something similar to what you describe happen when trying to change a JL flight. The AA RTW desk could see availability for the new flight (including within my existing PNR) but it always came back unconfirmed once they tried to actually book it. Of course, getting the flight confirmed outside of the existing DONE booking was no issue at all. (it was definitely not a married segment issue) They even tried calling JL (I think via the oneworld liaison desk) who refused to release it for a DONE, so I think the fare basis does matter for availability nowadays.
I've heard from the BA forum that availability for changes/existing bookings can differ from what you see for a new booking too. Honestly I feel like it's getting harder and harder to know what's actually available to you!