Welcome to Flyertalk Nutkey, welcome to the BA board, and I hope you will continue to be active on this valuable resource. So welcome on board and I hope we will here more from you going forward.

On BA metal, while 2 redemptions is a common offering, and what BA will release at 355 days before departure, that maximum can be higher, to 9 seats or even more, at least in theory. To JFK in November, midweek, I can see 9 plus seats available in certain dates (e.g. 11 November).

More realistically, I suspect getting 5 seats to the West Coast during a school holiday may well prove very difficult, particularly if you mean SFO! If may be a case of booking what you can and then keeping an eye on the situation. Avios redemptions can at least be cancelled for a relatively low fee if things don't work out.