Originally Posted by
eponymous_coward
You're probably going to have MUCH better luck finding a stop in Asia than in Hawaii at that time of year (it's peak season for Hawaii = little award inventory). You're also going to have problems getting onward travel from ICN if you choose OZ, FWIW, because OZ blacks out all non-North America awards during late December/early January (the trick I've used to get around that is TG has an ICN-HKG fifth freedom flight that has good availability). Oh, and OZ does not have lie-flat on ICN-SYD. The good news is OZ has decent award space available out of North America that time of year (you may be able to get their lie-flat).
Also, if it's strictly seat you care about (as opposed to soft product)... UA shouldn't be off your list. Their C seats should be all lie-flat by late 2013. OZ, TG and NH won't be.
That's really good to know about the award blackouts with OZ. I will definitely have to work that consideration into my plan. I may look for a routing through NRT, then, though I've been reading the ANA seats are kind of hard.
Of course, if I can get on the UA flights, especially the one to SYD, that's my first choice. But those are really tough to get as they business class flights disappear almost immediately. I may try to use them to fly through Asia, though.