Greetings, indeed Cicestrian greetings from an old boy of CHSB (very briefly). Welcome to Flyertalk Sussex Flyer and welcome to the BA forum. It's always good to see new faces here, and I hope that you will continue to be active here.

I was in San Diego earlier this week and it was certainly an interesting place to go, I'm still not convinced that a 747 can land there without giving everyone in Little Italy the shock of their lives but we shall see.

For redemptions: There are a number of airports thereabouts that may have availability, though it's not so easy without specific dates. In addition to SJC mentioned by MPH1980, which has SJC availability on 12, 13 and 19 September, and NYC, there is one place that always seems to have good availability in WTP and CW, and that's Atlanta.

LAS also has two First seats available on 18 September.

It may be worth booking something from NYC or ATL, booking some Avios ticket to connect domestically as well, and then being prepared to pay change fees if SAN or LAX, SFO, PHX or a better LAS or SJC turns up. The cancellation fee on domestic flights is very low anyway, and you'll get your Avios back.