Hi folks. I'm trying to get a saver award from WAS (any airport) to CMB for my wife. She wants to travel leaving in early July and returning in late August which is other than around Chistmas the worst time to get frequent flier seats. I was able to get a ticket outbound. However, on the return it showed availability at the saver level but when I actually selected it, all but one leg of the trip was confirmed in economy including the longhaul leg from Tokyo to Toronto. I tried to see if I could get a one way award using Mileage Plus and then use my AA miles for the retrun. No dice as starnet blocking is in effect and the same seats Onpeass shows available are "not available" to the Phillipines call center person I spoke to at United.

So here's my question. If I book the existing itinerary and later on (it is really easy to check using Continental's website) business class becomes available would I have to pay the $75 to change from Y to J? each time a flight becomes available in J

If you're sure the itinerary you want is available at Continental, you can now instantly transfer your UA miles to Continental and make the booking immediately.

Did you call more than once?
Did you verify with ANA/Aeroplan that the seat is availble on StarNet, not just the CO engine

Did you ask for that specific segment by flight number. Try asking for it alone without anything else.

I find it hard to believe that UA would block anything BKK-CMB, NRT-BKK, maybe, as they fly that route too.

Actually I wanted to book the outbound leg which was confirmed in J on the Continental website. The itenerary was IAD-PEK-BKK-CMB. I provided the dates and the flight numbers and the United agent first told me no flights were available. Then when pressed he said Qatar flights showed up but they are not for redemption just for sale as codeshare flights.

On the way back, CO showed availability CMB-BKK-NRT-YYZ-IAD. However, when you picked the flights only the CMB to BKK leg was confirmed in busines the rest were in economy.