Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Do Award Seats Open Up As It Gets Closer To Departure Date?

Using AS miles to fly Business on CX from SFO to HKG and booked on 3/6. A friend using Visa Points is booked on Business on 3/7. Was told that seats open up as it gets closer to departure date. Have checked with AS almost every other day and 7th won't open. My buddy has been checking with Visa for the 6th. Does anybody have any success stories about seats becoming available before the date and how far from the date did it happen? Thanks.

There are many many threads relating to this similar question. See this thread for example.

Generally it is iffy if award seats open up for CX flights. If the flight is looking full in coach already, chances are that CX will not open extra award seats to its partner carriers as there may be some asiamiles/MPC members on waitlist for those flights and they get priority over anyone else.