Has anyone booked Philippine Airlines (PAL) award tickets with Alaska (AS) miles in the past couple of days? I tried different dates for MNL-SFO/LAX, and they all show availability, but after payment I get "unable to confirm availability." Seems like that shouldn't be happening..
The key is whether the date you're searching is a batch that PAL has just released; newly released tickets often take a while to sync to AS.
People departing from the East Coast may have a different experience—with more connecting segments, there are fewer alternative routes to fall back on when availability errors occur than on the West Coast, so the situation isn't necessarily the same for everyone.
Before you actually issue the ticket, it's best to first lay out the alternative routes and acceptable date ranges clearly—especially when you need to connect to an international leg or meet a fixed itinerary. If you get stuck after payment and can't confirm, you should also understand the boundary conditions for rebooking and refunds beforehand, so the whole trip doesn't end up in limbo.
Don't keep trying repeatedly—it's more reliable to call AS customer service and have a person verify the seat directly.
When you say it shows tickets available, is that a specific flight number with seats in a fare class, or are you just seeing prices on the calendar? Those two situations are quite different when it comes to figuring out what's going on.
From a cost and timing perspective, this kind of fake availability often ends up costing you more not through the fare itself, but through the knock-on losses of having to reschedule your trip, buying a pricier ticket at the last minute, or staying an extra night — and the longer you wait, the fewer options you have.