So I found a couple of BF award seats this summer for me and the wife. When I tried to book them using my miles for one and her miles (she is CO silver) for the other, I was told that they were only available if the miles come from my account. I was under the impression that there was no difference in international availability, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, is there any way around it if I don't have enough miles in my account ? Thanks.

Pick up the phone and call.
Worth the $10 or so you might get hit with.

I was searching by phone. This involves partner flights. The CSR was very helpfull up untill it was time to ticket and then said no when I tried to use my wife's miles for one of the tickets. I guess I will call back and try again, but wanted to see what the experts have to say...

The "F" (formerly EG) BF reward bucket must come out of a Plat account - the system will not let anything other than a Plat Onepass # redeem miles for that bucket.

The standard BF "E" reward bucket applies to all accounts. Look in co.com and try booking on your Plat account versus your wife's account and you will see different availability. Once you select the return you will see the fare code (in BOLD). If it shows as E you are OK, if it shows as F - only the Plat account can book - that is either online or on the phone.

When looking for a BF reward first try only with the long haul segment to check availability. I have seen for example a flight from EWR-GIG (which connects in GRU) as BF when only the GRU-GIG (300 miles) segment is available.

Thanks, I figured from the conversation that there is something like that. On a separate note, I find the online system less usefull for award serches where there are many partner options. Anyway, now I am beeing told that there is absolutely no availability for non-platinum and I have that original reservation that I can't ticket because I don't have enough miles for 2 in my account. Any quick way to earn/transfer ~70,000 miles (besides Amex MRs) ? or is there another way around this ? The reservation can only be held for 10 days and while I have a couple of flights coming up, the miles won't make a dent in this number....Thanks.