Up until recently, (that's last time when I booked, a few months ago), you were able to search for availability on United, and when you found the itinerary that you wanted, you were able to RESERVE it, [only if you did not have enough miles in your account at the time, if there were enough miles in the account, you had to purchase it].
So process was simple. keep low balance in FF account, search for flights, when you find it, reserve it, they asked for a CC in order to reserve it, and you had a few days, usually 2-3 days, to transfer the miles from UR and complete the purchase.
Yesterday and today, I was searching for a ticket, and I noticed, that the Reserve Fare is not available when searching for a one-way ticket, the option only came up when I did a round-trip. when I searched for one way, they gave me an option of PURCHASING a fare lock for 7.99 for 24 hours or for 14.99 for 7 days, but not the free RESERVE option.
Is it something new? any workarounds?