Originally Posted by midlevels

Dining with wife - hope that either you or your wife is petite else it's not too comfortable in the buddy seat.

Worth of points is always difficult to quantify, but since you are attaching a dollar value of US$500 to the upgrade, I would say that it's definitely worth it for a flight as long as LAX-HKG. At US$500 I'd do it every time, both ways if I could. Depends on how much $500 is worth to you, but since you're here on FT debating the merits of F vs J long-haul travel, I'd venture a guess that the $500 x 2 is not that big of a deal.