<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PremEx:
You think that united.com will recognize this new protocol and confirm a qualifying booking on a sold out flight, online?</font>
Hard to say at this point. When I've done this in the past, the policy invariable has been to book the flight, receive HL status, buy the ticket, and then call the airline to have them move HL->HK. That procedure, IME with several foreign flag carriers, was invariant. Even when I booked with the airline itself, and not a TA, the process was the same.
Given the wonderful capabilities of united.com, and the present and ongoing support of UAL, ITN et. al., the future of guaranteed HK status for 1K's should be self evident.