I am AA Exp/OW Emerald trying to redeem a business class award on a CX flight from Vancouver/JFK on 8/15/02. They can confirm an economy award but not business. AA EXP desk sent a message to the CX liasion who said no to clearing the seat. The flight is wide open. Who else can I turn to to try and get the seat cleared?

The EXP desk is your best bet but CX has just started a marketing campaign and is going to keep a tight grip on that inventory until they see how it goes. Don't expect to clear more than 2 weeks before flight time (unless you have CX status). I just had a long discussion with another airline about exactly the same situation (waitlist even though not one seat in F has been sold on the flight), and their justification is that yield management is having trouble forecasting demand so they will keep it all for sale and sort out the wait list later. Being EXP puts you in a good position (you can only be bumped by a sold seat); pity the lower FF levels who get bumped by the EXPs. In a way this "new policy" improves seat availability for EXPs, and CX is famous for giving full recognition to EXP status (priority ahead of their own Saphires). I wouldn't worry about it too much, Continental is flying a 777 EWR-HKG non-stop in August and that will attack the CX sales in J (so you'll get your seat). Even more so if United resumes it's suspended non-stop JFK-HKG service.