I haven't flown BA in about a year now, but due to the recent 1 SPG point -> 1.625 BA miles transfer promo, I'm going to book 2 RT J TATL tickets, using miles, for me & my fiancee.

Question 1 - seat assignments

I have no status on BA ( well, Blue ). It used to be that you couldn't make seat assignments in Club World until 24 hours before scheduled departure unless you were a Gold or travelling on a full-fare ticket.

Is this still the case? Our travel is going to be in peak season (end of May/beginning of June) - what are our chances of getting seats together?

Question 2 - flexibility

There will be four segments in total - an outbound (ORD-LHR), and an inbound (LHR-ORD) for each of us.

Should I book the trip all on the same award PNR, or else book 4 one-way award tickets? Which provides most flexibility?

Thank you!