In the last few years I have become a desk jockey and have stopped travelling which means I have lost all my premier status with United. But, I still have quite a few miles I am interested in using.

I would like to go PHLMBJ on MAR 17 returning MAR 21 and wanted to use FF miles. I don't care if I even have to use a standard award. But, the blasted voice recognition system (even though it tells me it is searching all available flights) clearly isn't checking star alliance partners as it is telling me absolutely nothing is open when US Air has two directs out of PHL that are wide open on both departure and return.

Does anyone know of any tricks or tips to actually getting a live person on the phone to look at these exact flights for me or some other way to do it?

Thanks for you help in advance.