Xmas reward Seats: no 3's open, book 1 + 2 later?

Been assiduously looking for 3x one way reward seats JFK>LHR in the weekend before Xmas, but only single or rare double seats appear sporadically. Should I give up chasing 3 reward/ miles seats, book a single and then look for 2x seats on same flight, if lucky?

I did think of the 1+1+1 route, but one pax is our 9y/o son, so that won't be permitted, methinks.

fwiw, I have 3 companion vouchers and was hoping to use one of them at least, and I'm VS Au for life. Also, doesn't my Au status confer the right to force a reward seat on any plane, or something? Vague recollection of that...

(our 3x seats return seats are booked, thankfully!)

[mitchja]

A gold reward seat can be requested on any flight even if no reward availability, however, it will cost you x2 the normal number of points.

Thanks Mitcha, thought it was something like that.
Good to have it confirmed.

Now I wonder... if you can use a Gold renewal companion voucher with the Gold reward seat?!

[mitchja]

Unfortunately not sorry. From this page:

Can I combine the Gold Reward Seat with an Upgrade or Companion voucher?

No, Upgrade and Companion vouchers cannot be used with Gold Reward Seats.

Just to wrap this thread up - three pre-Xmas (Dec 22 JFK>LHR) reward EC seats did appear suddenly late at night US time, 3am UK time, and I booked them via a helpful agent, plus used up one of my vouchers, for the first time ever!

I happened to be randomly browsing late in the evening, and thought to check - and bingo there they were!
A couple of hours later, received a SeatSpy alert I had set, but had already secured them by then.

All just fyi, for anyone who'd like to be aware how these things shake out.

haha @narikin I've been stalking those exact seats--well on 20th not 22nd. Well done for persisting/ scoring!

A further note on the 'gold reward seat even if no reward availability' question. I was fairly excited to test this one, but discovered, yes it's true, but only if you're prepared to spend not double, but ALL YOUR POINTS (200k ++ each seat) and also ALL YOUR CASH --the fees were equal to or higher than fares. Agent had to go off and consult on this for about an hour then came back to report this very bad deal; was cutely apologetic. We had a laugh.

Enjoy that xmas flight!