Well, glory to god, I've got this ticketed - SFO to HKG on CX in J for 100k miles and about Rs 8.2k in taxes. That's, in fact, cheaper than what BA charges (105k Avios), and I think even CX charges 105k Asia Miles for this itinerary in the non-saver bucket.

Just when I'd resigned myself to calling them another six times or so, I miraculously got a call back from the partner redemptions team and it was sorted in about ten minutes.

Of course I've been informed repeatedly in all the emails I've been sent that this booking is strictly non-refundable and cannot be amended, so that's something to bear in mind.