I usually get that at HKG walking to immigration from wherever my gate is (which is seemingly always about a mile away) and then out to the AEX.

Point well taken, though. On my USA-HKG-BKK trip I made sure I plugged in an 18 hour stopover. Enough time to go into the city, sleep, and grab dim sum before my flight out.

Premium class space opening up is now a big exercise in ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ now that Cathay is pondering tightening up partner space. What they've done historically (open the floodgates close in) is no guarantee of future results.

If $125 is no big burden... you can monitor JL/BA award space on CX with KVS or EF, paid products...