Thought I'd share some experiences that may be useful to others.

I am an EXP on AA with a family of AA PLATs. I needed four RTs in First for SFO-HKG-JNB (using the now unavailable AA 140K miles award). When I called in June 2003, I just did not find ANY date in Feb-May period with availability for 4 pax. I simply booked 4 separate awards on different dates with a common routing. I just kept calling back periodically and slowly inventory kept getting released and I kept grabbing it by making date changes. At some point, I did freeze the dates (with common dates for all) with unavailable segments booked in business class.

I now have 4 RTs in First class for the same dates within my preferred window at a fairly peak time with the exception of 2 segments for a single person (booked in Biz for now). I definitely suggest a similar strategy for anyone in my shoes. It worked for multiple such itineraries in the past as well. Of course the inventory for Asia Miles awards is/was much better.

Also I usually book for the PLATs first and keep me (EXP) in business class when chasing F awards. CX almost always releases inventory for an AA EXP award travel closer to the travel date if they do not sell out on paid fares.

I sympathize with anyone wanting to get their family on the same flights with award tickets in front cabins. Your strategy paid off, considering at best CX will have a single F award seat on most flights, possibly one more if your are one of their own top tier members. Taking the chance that more inventory will be released closer to flight time is about the only way to go.

I shall be using the same award at the end of next month, albeit ex-YYZ. I had no problem getting dates I wanted three or four months out, but that was for one seat in F. Had this been a trip for two, there would likely have been problems.

Enjoy the flights, and the destinations.

I did the same exact thing to get FIVE of us in FC LAX-HKG-JNB. I got 19 of the 20 segments in FC. (Grandpa sat in 11A in BC for one segment)

I think I called every other day for several months.

Persistence pays!

CX does no such thing. As your award booking with AAdvantage cannot be waitlisted, CX has no obligation to release any revenue seats to anyone other than to its own elite Diamond and Gold members. It's not a guaranteed privilege but sometimes it is a welcome treat when calling MPC to request for a waitlist on a full flight only to be told after a few minutes that CX has cleared that Business Class seat for me.

CX's MPC and Asiamiles members are the only ones who can waitlist for award reservations, on not only CX but also on (In my experience)BA and QF flights too.

I am not saying that CX formally releases award inventory for any OW partner. However,as an AA EXP I have gotten award availability released on all my First/Business awards close to date of travel. I avoid Chinese new year holiday and a few peak days just to be careful.

I also travel 10 to 20 paid discounted F cabin longhaul trips on CX each year and again never had a problem - CX release seats (for discounted F) for AA EXP even if they show zero availability on CRS.

YMMV.