Originally Posted by
jackal
While it's not guaranteed, keep in mind airlines tend to open more seats closer to the dates of travel as they try to fill their unsold seats. Sometimes they'll open a bunch of seats just two weeks from departure. It'd be a bit of a gamble on your part, but you could hold out for some new seats to be opened around that time period before your proposed return flight.
Thanks to both of you for the response. I decided to hedge my bet, while I prefer to fly CX in F, I have booked a ticket on CO where I am platinum and am waitlisted for an upgrade to J (using miles and a co-pay). I will keep checking for CX award availability and hope that something opens up, if not I will pay the fee, redeposit my miles and fly CO assuming I get the upgrade (which I almost always do as a platinum). Worst case I just keep my existing flights on CX and have a much short stay in MNL (and pay CO a $150 fee to cancel my flight and get a credit for a future flight). Thanks again for the insight.