Kind of in a similar situation. Planning a trip to BKK this January.

I can spend either 130k points for 2 tickets in CX F to BKK via HKG, or right now transfer 100k points through Membership Rewards to BAEC (taking advantage of the transfer bonus) and book the same route except have the option of stopping over. I am not sure if we will want to stop over or not but I guess it would be nice to have the option. However this would also mean we need to get to the CX gateway ourselves. I suppose a drive up to LAX from SAN might not be too bad, though CX F from LAX doesn't seem too open to awards.