I have just made six reservations for autumn between HKG and 4 European cities. Here are my observations:

a) planes are very full. i had to rearrange my schedule because C class was fully booked on several dates in October, on the first september weekend i could only get Y seats. So much for the industry downturn.

b) I have one flight booked as a points upgrade Y-C. Because ugrade HKG-LHR on that day was only available on BA, I have to book the entire ticket with BA instead of CX (including rest of the journey inside Europe (LHR-VIE-LHR-LIS-CDG), and cannot fly back with CX from CDG (where an upgrade is available). Because it's booked with BA, I must fly back via LHR. So much for integration and cooperation in oneworld.

c) LHR-LIS-CDG as above cannot be booked on Iberia for shorter travel, no, i have to do LHR-LIS-LHR-CDG-LHR on BA, if not I have to pay that part as a separate itinerary (more than twice as costly). Again, so much for customer-oriented product integration in oneworld.

Disappointed,

Consolidator tickets have the problems you mention. Normal business class tickets do not have these restrictions, and you would be able to combine BA and CX flights. A quick look shows plenty of inventory HKG-LHR in September ... it is only the very cheap unpublished fares that are sold out. You state valid concerns, but they have nothing to do with Oneworld or with business class tickets, they have to do with the rules and availability for unpublished fares. I have been able to get seats on every flight that I wanted this year, often the same day and on prime routes -- but at full fare. This is a dramatic change from prior years.