What an incredibly crappy experience.
I think the problem is that there are several reasons the online form could be failing:
1. System is unable to find reservation number.
2. Intermittent failures due to crappy implementation / infrastructure / system overload.
3. Other IT issues.
They know about (1), and they know their support is required to resolve it, so they'll help with that one. They also know about (2), and they know that their help is ultimately *not* required for that, even if it is a crappy experience for the member. So their answer is "just keep trying", because they're already overloaded trying to help the boatload of people in category (1).
The people who are really going to have a frustrating experience are those in category (3). This could be anything, but the relevant point is that whatever the issue is, it's not what's happening in category (2), and it's not going to go away if you just keep trying. The trouble is convincing the CM you speak to that your problem is NOT intermittent, and you really do need tech support. They don't know anything about the technical details of the system, and most of the people calling in won't, either. The CMs have clearly been told not to spend time dealing with the people who don't want to use the online form, or don't know the online form exists, or those who are just having trouble due to system overload, and they don't know how to tell the difference between those people and the ones legitimately in category (3).
If it makes you feel any better, I'm up to nearly two hours on hold (for category 1). At least I can work in the background. I do have a hard stop at 2 pm though, so I sure hope it's resolved before then!