I spoke with the CS rep at United tonight. I am in a pinch. I have 3500 orphaned UA miles and I had already completed three stays in the last two weeks where I chose UA as my partner airline to get the 500 miles out.

I inquired if I could put in an order pending the posting (which she said was impossible). She did say, though, that it appears that the halt was started by Hilton and they were overwhelmed with requests for transfers based on rumors of liquidation. She said that they weren't sure whether this was a final change in policy or simply a stopgap to catch-up on the pending requests.