I have a small dliemma, and I'd like to solicit opinions and experience on some routings.

We currently have an award booked for March that includes a non-stop YVR-IAH segment in domestic First. The two problems with this itinerary are the 7:00 AM departure and the almost 8 hour layover in Houston.

Two other currently available options are YVR-ORD-IAH with YVR-ORD in domestic First and ORD-IAH in Coach, and YVR-PDX-IAH all in Coach. Both are longer end-to-end, but depart about an hour and a half later, and reduce our time in Houston to under 3 hours. Of course, there's also the added risk of the additional layover.

So would you do? And, more importantly, what am I missing or failing to take into account? To summarize, the options (as I see them) are

1. Keep YVR-IAH in F and accept the early departure and long layover. Net totals: 4:25 in F, 7:40 in layovers.
2. Take the YVR-ORD-IAH flight, which guarantees us one segment in F, but we would waitlist for IN inventory to open on ORD-IAH (738). Net totals: 4:00 in F, 2:49 in Y, 3:47 in layovers.
3. Take the YVR-ORD-IAH flight, and waitlist for IN inventory to open on PDX-IAH (738). Net total: 1:15 on a Q300, 4:09 in Y, 5:01 in layovers.

#2 and #3 seem pretty comparable, though I don't know how likely it is that IN would open on PDX-IAH (which I'm guessing is much more likely than ORD-IAH), and that 1:15 on a Q300 doesn't excite me either. Yes, I also know that domestic F is nothing to write home about, but it's still a nicer seat for a 4-hour flight.