Originally Posted by JJeffrey

Honestly long connections are not the problem at all. For awards to Australia or New Zealand, the problem is finding any availability at all at the sAAver level in F or J on the QF or AA nonstops.

If you've successfully found a round trip award in QF business then I'd be thrilled, forget about a long connection. Many other members here would probably kill for that award space .

That said, you have verified that you have business on all segments, yes? AA.com has a nasty glitch that appears often when searching TPAC awards on QF, whereby it shows business sAAver as available however when clicking through you'll find the short connecting segment in business, with the longhaul flight in coach.

For CX awards, sign up for an account at BA then search there. Make sure you search segment by segment, then call AA to book anything you see.