This issue-availability for IB award booking but not for partner award booking-is no longer just a matter of when the awards open for advance booking. Rather, IB is clearly blocking awards to partner programs which it has available for booking with IB Avios.
I have been tracking flights for next spring-well within all programs' opening dates-that are availble for booking on IB.com using IB Avios. These flights are not available via BA.com, Qantas or Expert Flyer. Also, phone call to AA results in 'no availabilty' response'.
This is, unfortunately, a trend I see more and more with European carriers such as AF and LH. To be clear, there is no status involved either way; this is just naked blocking of awards to alliance partners.