While there are some exceptions to this, generally award inventory is award inventory. Many programs alot the same access to award inventory to their own program members as they do to their partners. BA is a prime example.

I would not have successfully set up saver award reservations for about 5 million AA miles worth of travel if I didn't do my own research. I often call AA to scope out AA avail on certain partners I can't check online, IE I ask for avail from BRU-NSI. Once I know this, I work on getting to BRU myself before calling back. Why? Because I know AA's route network as well as the agents and am more persistent...too often I have found tickets after being told there is nothing available for your dates because I checked more routings.