I've read so many posts on FT now that the different forums are starting to blend together. Any advice on the following would be appreciated. My husband and I are close to YYZ and are going on a cruise Oct 2-14 departing from Barcelona. We're looking to head to Europe a couple days early and stay a couple days after (ideal travel dates being Sept 27-Oct 17). We will have approx 280000 Avios with the 50% bonus on right now through RBC Visa. Ideally would like to spend more Avios, less cash, but realize it will be a mix of the two.

We're hoping to fly CW both ways TATL and are fine with economy within Europe. Willing to redeem on BA, AA, IB, etc, any one that works. I do realize bookings will have to be through BA since we only have Avios. We would be willing to fly from any nearby airport since we could redeem some Avios for a reasonable AA flight to those: for example, JFK, ORD, Buffalo.

I've purchased a KVS membership and have found availability in CW from LHR-
YYZ on Oct 17 (can get a reward flight saver from BCN-LHR I'm thinking). However, no CW anytime near when we want to make YYZ-Europe trip. Should I purchase the inbound leg now with Avios since there is availability? I think a OW award ticket is exactly half of a RT, correct? Half of both Avios and taxes? I guess the risk of this is that availability will never open up for the outbound leg in CW or WT+, in which case we'd be stuck in economy to start our trip. I'll check tomorrow to see if an economy award ticket is fully refundable, and if so, book 2 of those as a backup plan.

Are AA OW award tickets also always exactly half of a RT award ticket?

Does anyone have any advice for routes etc that aren't obvious that I may not have thought of? I checked for milesAAver awards for JFK-BCN etc and couldn't find anything there either. I've looked at the KVS help topics but maybe there's a way I can better use the tool to find these routes?

Thanks in advance for any help!

OM