Originally Posted by Austinrunner
...and (2) if you want to use AA miles for an award on a flight operated by a partner airline (not AA), then the award has to be available on the inventory of the operating airline (QF in this example)...
Nope. Let's say flight AA9999, an imaginary codeshare operated by QF. This flight has, and will show, its own award availability. You do not have to look it up under the QF flight number.