Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - HKG-BKK-HKG: EK in J or CX in Y?

I need to fly HKG-BKK-HKG over the New Year, and found a good price (about US$440 all in) round trip in J Class on EK. I will likely just get the ticket on emirates.com, but if I can find it much cheaper thru a Travel Agent, I'd do it.
Also, I can get a CX ticket in Y for about $300, with slightly better flight times. Neither CX nor EK will give me EQMs, so mileage isn't an issue--it's mostly about service. I can credit the EK miles to my meager UA account, and I don't think the cheap CX fares will credit to AA anyway.
Will EK in J be that much better than CX in Y? I've never flown either airline.
I'm AA Platinum, so I can use the CX lounges even though I'm flying in Y.
I'll post this in both forums.
Thanks for the help!

Despite I don't really like EK, I think you should take EK's J Class instead of CX's Y Class (given it is only 140USD difference).

The catering should be better and you get more miles (given the class bonus in J) However the seating is ordinary, but should still be better than CX's Y Class.

How come you are not getting a cheaper Y Class fare on CX?

Actually come to think of it 440USD in J Class (even it is only a short flight) is still pretty good value.

You could try KQ in C, since I see you are on NW! They will sell you a ticket for just over USD 250 IIRC in BKK through travel agent.
That will give you status miles and bonus miles! Since you are PE;

1063 x 2 = 2126 + bonuses = 5847 miles / 250 USD = 0.043 $/m

Do keep in mind that this is not a daily service!

You could try KQ in C, since I see you are on NW! They will sell you a ticket for just over USD 250 IIRC in BKK through travel agent.
That will give you status miles and bonus miles! Since you are PE;

1063 x 2 = 2126 + bonuses = 5847 miles / 250 USD = 0.043 $/m

Do keep in mind that this is not a daily service!
Thanks for the advice! I considered KQ, but the schedule doesn't work for me. I forgot to add that I am arriving on CO 99 from EWR at 20:15, and trying to connect right to BKK, so I need a flight at least an hour later. EK and CX have flights around 22:00, so it's pretty much down to those two.
I also considered AY (found fares even cheaper for J--HK$2940-- than EK) but they don't operate every day.

there's also a slightly more expensive option you can consider...AY+CX...I think it's one way AY in D and one way CX in I...this is ~USD 500 or so if you buy from HKG. Since for HKG-BKK you need to take CX, so if you can take AY for BKK-HKG, you can try to look into this fare...

there's also a slightly more expensive option you can consider...AY+CX...I think it's one way AY in D and one way CX in I...this is ~USD 500 or so if you buy from HKG. Since for HKG-BKK you need to take CX, so if you can take AY for BKK-HKG, you can try to look into this fare...
That one interests me, since I can get OW miles and also fly a superior product at least one way. Can you recommend a Travel Agent in HKG where I could find that fare? I tried on zuji.com but no luck. The Emirates and Finnair fares were available on those respective airlines' web sites.
Thanks!

You can try these 2 sites.

http://www.aerohkg.com/index.html

http://www.tiglion.com/

You can try these 2 sites.

http://www.aerohkg.com/index.html

http://www.tiglion.com/

Those sites are great for checking what fares exist ex-Hong Kong (although perhaps less good for booking them--I ended up taking their info and going to another travel agent after encountering an aerohkg sales agent who was reluctant to acknowledge the existence of wait lists).

Does anyone know of any equally good sites for checking what fares exist ex-Singapore or ex-Bangkok?

Those sites are great for checking what fares exist ex-Hong Kong (although perhaps less good for booking them--I ended up taking their info and going to another travel agent after encountering an aerohkg sales agent who was reluctant to acknowledge the existence of wait lists).

Does anyone know of any equally good sites for checking what fares exist ex-Singapore or ex-Bangkok?

aerohkg does offer fare ex-BKK

http://202.181.243.147/th/default.asp?user_id=20&color_prefer=BLUE

aerohkg does offer fare ex-BKK

http://202.181.243.147/th/default.asp?user_id=20&color_prefer=BLUE

Thanks ... very helpful (although interesting it shows far few fares than ex-HKG)

there's also a slightly more expensive option you can consider...AY+CX...I think it's one way AY in D and one way CX in I...this is ~USD 500 or so if you buy from HKG. Since for HKG-BKK you need to take CX, so if you can take AY for BKK-HKG, you can try to look into this fare...
Thank you. I did find the web sites helpful. So now, a new question: EK or CX/AY in J? The EK fare is HK$3480, and CX/AY is $4280, about US$100 more. I have read some posts here saying short-haul CX is not too impressive, and AY is on the dreaded MD-11. Both EK and CX/AY work into my schedule, though, so both are possibilities. Thanks again, folks, you've been really helpful!

The CX regional business class seats (either old or new) aren't as nice as the long-haul, and nor do you get the AVOD system, although having said that either is far superior to, for example, AA domestic F.

I see that the schedules show the CX flight as 34C or 34D on Wed,Th,Sat around that time and EQV on other days. If you are going on a day that gives you the 340 then I would definitely go for CX. Otherwise I'm not sure since I don't know the Emirates product.