since alaska doesn't charge a fee to change/cancel 60+ days out and i'm booking for feb 2016 (~330 days out), it seems to me like i should just book my outgoing flight right now and once the return flight is available for purchase, cancel 2 of my outgoing tickets and book 2 RT tickets (pay for 1 + companion pass for the other) and pay for one way tickets coming back for the rest of my party.

i also have about 70k award miles that i can use.

e.g., we have 4 adults and 2 kids in my party.

so what if i do:

1) book 2 adults + 2 kids one way and pay with credit card online.
2) book 2 adults via award miles one way.
3) when the return flights are available for purchase, buy 2 adults + 2 kids return trip.
4) buy 1 round trip ticket + 1 companion fare ticket
5) cancel the 2 adult tickets via award miles and get miles re-deposited back to account for free

so in the end i had 2 round trip tickets (purchase w/ companion pass) + 4 tickets that are one way going there and one way coming back.

i do not hold status with alaska. would this work?

Rock.