A pretty embarrassing mistake. You'd think managing the fare buckets would be at the top of the IT priority list. I guess if it only affects reward seats (and doesn't give anyone any) it's less vital? :)

BTW, when the system IS working, how much better is platinum availability?

It made quite a difference for me when I was looking for BF seats to HNL last fall. When I called to split the reservation and take the miles out of two accounts, the elite desk indicated that this was not possible as my wife was only a Silver.

I was under the impression - from a conversation with CO CS that better availability for elites was only on domestic flights....

Plat Elites have had better reward availability for BF international flights. There is a separate code for Plat BF rewards which used to be "EG" and was changed a year or two ago to plain "F".

This top tier OnePass elite benefit was announced several years ago when Gold was top tier, hence the EG code. I have not seen any announcement that the EG (now coded as F) has gone away.