Well, we're using Gary again.
The story so far: We have biz seats on Cathay from JFK to BKK on a direct flight for 85,000 BA points/miles each. The 50% bonus for Amex transfer really helped! And the taxes/fees weren't bad, either. (I'm guessing they would have been much worse had we been on a BA plane!)

Still waiting to see how we will get home.

I can't speak to availability of seats, although everyone says that there are fewer available. I have noticed that the points/miles required have climbed. Inflation hits another currency!

Doug