(On hold endlessly)
Spoke my piece with a rep who worked to find some biz saver seats on United and other partners. She came back and told me no go.
I asked her to open saver biz seats on the United flight, and she said she couldn't, so I asked for a manager.
Waited forever for the manager, and my original rep came back periodically to tell me that the manager was on a complicated call, but I was next. Perhaps it put the manager in a negative mood.
She told me she couldn't open biz saver seats on UA. I explained that it was a UA mistake. She kept repeating that it was because Aer Lingus had no more inventory and I was never assured of a seat until AerLingus gives it to United. So I pointed out that the UA website was still showing it as available. She assured me that it had been escalated to the tech department, but would not honor it as a UA seat, and would not open any biz saver seats for me.
About and hour and a half on the (speaker) phone all told, but my charm and powers of persuasion were not up to the task.