Originally Posted by MJLogan
I've had that experience--and the opposite experience. There were awards online that were not available to a live agent. I was assembling something complicated, so the agent told me to reserve the flight I saw online through the website, while we stayed on the phone putting the rest of the trip together. Then he was able to put the whole itinerary together for me.
Same for me, I usually find more availablity online than with an agent. The last time I asked the agent said they didn't get access to elite availability, only standard but I find this hard to believe. it may just be who you get on the phone and how knowledgable they are.