I wanted to share my redemption success story with everyone. I just completed the ticketing process for myself and four family members in J round trip. This was a BA redemption on CX. Itinerary is YVR-HKG-PEK and then PVG-HKG-JFK. After 500k BA Executive Club miles and about USD 1500 in taxes, fees and surcharges, it's done. The family (wife, two kids - 5 & 3, & mother-in-law) are headed to China and HKG for two weeks in November. Not sure how the little one will like the isolation of the new J seat...probably in with her mother most of the time. She's already prepared for it. The key to my success was really being flexible on the gateway city. JFK was not available on the outbound so I originally booked in Y on CX841 with the inbound originally booked in J on CX888 - the one stop via YVR on 747. I said to my family that 'we'll just wait for it to open up.' After booking, I then found that the YYZ flight was wide open for everyone and would be the new equipment - 773. I called BA to change things, knowing that I'd pay $70/pp to re-ticket. Didn't expect the additional taxes & fees to be an additional $93/pp. Not exactly a pleasant surprize but I didn't make a fuss. Anyway, it is possible to get the award seats, even with a large party.