Originally Posted by number_6
Few routes still offer first class, some airlines (such as BA) sell out due to giving F for J price, and the premium routes such as SYD-JFK or JFK-HKG are restricted to 10% of the cabin for A inventory.
I am not sure that 10% figure is completely accurate. On the SYD-JFK route, QF has 14 F seats in their 744's. So 10% would be 1.4 seats, so I can only assume you mean A inventorhy is restricted to either 1 (7%) or 2 (14%). However, the first random date I checked (and I specifically avoided holiday perionds) show F9 A9 for QF107 between SYD-JFK. And the return QF108 JFK-SYD shows the same for the random return date I selected 2 weeks later. Those were for flight in the first quarter of 2005.
Checking the same flight for later this month (say Nov 19 and 21), I see QF107 showing F2 A2, and QF108 showing F6 A5. So this non-scientific and random selection of dates implies that QF are making most of their F seats between SYD and JFK available to A fare ticket holders.
I have no idea what CX does regarding A availability and did not check.