Yes, this was an AA-issued award ticket. I have not spoken to CX directly at all. On the CX website, they are still selling F seats for that flight.
I was finally able to get a sympathetic agent who spent a long time on it. He says he has put in a request for the seats to be opened, but he is not optimistic as he says they rarely work. In the meantime, I had him work out some alternatives.
According to the agent, there is no F availability on any other routing or any other airline. There are 2 BA flights but no availability. Even if we can get the seats, BA will also charge me outrageous fuel surcharges.
There is availability on C for a direct flight on CX, which he says he can hold, but because my award was made pre-devaluation, any change in class will need to be done on a new ticket. I had spent 70,000 miles for my F reward, and they will charge me 75,000 for a replacement C reward (instead of 52,500 pre-devaluation). He says they cannot do it at the old level. Has anyone had any luck getting them to at least refund the difference based on the old chart?