I would wager this is a strategic move by United. They want to keep tight control over what agents can do. Ongoing trend continues of "whatever the computer says is the only option" thinking.

Looking into crystal ball, they are inviting DOT intervention / passenger bill of rights / duty of care legislation / etc. And they will complain bitterly when it happens.

I've had two weird issues with reservations lately.

First is a multi-city reservation for later this year where I get "No Upgrade Available" when trying to upgrade my cabin (even though Polaris is almost empty on both international segments).

Second was today when all my multi-city reservations I'm trying to book are pricing out in Y instead of discount fare.

I called in to see if web support was available to address these (they've been amazing fixing issues in the past including inadvertent mistakes by me) and was told that group is no longer available. Sounds like they are gone as of two months ago.

I still think the United app is the best for day of travel and getting info on all aspects of the trip. The web desk being gone is a step backwards unless they can get their actual reservations system more stable though. It has been smooth sailing on United for me the last few years (aside from garbage Polaris food)... I knew something had to give one of these days.

EDIT: I did a search for "web support" before I posted this and it was not in the first two pages of results... guess I should give Flyertalk web support a call... Well at least I know what happened now.

After reading these posts I'd argue that the agents do not have the ability to fix things that web desk could. The option to call in and we can see/do things for you is not a great option. I don't want to spend 10-15 minutes every couple days checking with an agent when I could do it in 30 seconds from the web.

Was PZ available on the flight when you looked using Expert Mode? I always book and ticket before applying instruments.

It was not, but that wouldn't keep me from having Waitlist or paid upgrade options. I can't even pay the upgrade difference to Polaris or be put on the waitlist with cash + miles without calling in.

So I have a question on how things are supposed to work now.

I saw a fare displayed but could not get through the ticketing process without erroring out. Called the GS number and the agent ran into the same problem. Asked for web support and found out it is gone. The agent was emphatic that just because you see a fare on the website does not mean that it is actually available, it's confirmed available when ticketing is complete. I asked for a supervisor and was very politely told there is no one to escalate to because she is a "lead".

Having invested enough time with that agent I hung up and called again, got a seemingly more knowledgeable agent. Same problem, she put me on hold and came back and said they cannot resolve it. The best she could offer was I try again in a few hours. Until now this type of issue would be sent to web support who would work their magic and get the ticketing done.

Are there some magic words we can utter that will conjure up these tools for the agents you referred to? I am not being facetious, I just want to get things done efficiently.