I made an award reservation for December 2003 which was put on hold until today. I was short 6,000 points and (gasp!) purchased them but they won't be posted for a few days. The agent advised that she could not extend the reservation and if the reservation expired, the seats would not be placed back into the award inventory. The supervisor extended the reservation and confirmed that the seats could not be guaranteed as available if the reservation was canceled.
Does this make sense?