On the other hand, they could be juggling with the F inventory / loads to ensure that a couple of seats are left available - just in case someone based in the US wants to book a last-minute award (in F, naturally) with AS miles.

Someone such as yourself - who generates a lot of revenue for EK as a result of actually flying with them (and very regularly so) would, as you know, always have less priority than an AS redemption.......