Most likely been answered many times, but search/google was a fail for me:

If “I” class is showing as available on both ExpertFlyer and United (and it’s not phantom) then is this available to all *A carrier programs (dismissing the usual SQ etc)

Specific scenario:

I am trying to book an award ticket using CM miles, from PTY-YVR near T-330. United shows, for example, PTY(CM)-LAX(AC)-YVR, in I class for 30K miles. EF backs this up

- If AC releases I space and it’s bookable on United, will Copa, Avianca and all the rest also get this availability? -

Call Copa and they cannot find this. There are many other options available on UA too, with a mix of CM/AC, through ORD/LAS/DEN/YYZ/YUL etc. EF backs all these up (“YES” listed when searching by airline)

Again, Copa cannot see any of these. I have HUCA several times, but it’s the same 2-3 staff that deal with redemptions

They are able to see PTY(CM)-MEX(AC)-YVR, so something does exist on their end

Any ideas on how to explain to them that it does exist or how to help them find the availability?

Only really want to go thru LAX/SFO/YUL/YYZ for lie flats

CM website is absolutely useless to find anything, so no help there

Don't count on it. Each airline decides which inventory to expose to its customers.

I handheld an agent through an excruciating (prolly for both parties) 60+ minute phone call, and we were finally able to book the tickets I wanted

Their entire system is manual it looks like, so maybe agents just give up if its too complicated. Manual calculation on both the taxes and the amount of miles

I suppose this somewhat benefits me if no one else (or very few) are able to book such award redemptions with Copa, but its insanely tilting to deal with

EF used to just be scraping the UA site for award space. I'm not sure what it does now, but it doesn't have direct access into the StarNet inventory sharing so it shouldn't necessarily be seen as a truly authoritative source on this type of query.