Originally Posted by Duke787

A few thoughts

1) Finding 4 J awards on any airline is going to be a challenge so take whatever you can get and don't think about it twice

2) BR (EVA) offers a fantastic J product if you are on the 77W (same as CX J but BR offers superior soft product). If on a 747 however, it isn't worth it - most flights to the US are on the 77W but I believe SEA occasionally sees the 747 so depending on the routing UA is showing that might come into play.

3) IMO, it's not worth the extra miles for BR over KE even though BR is better. KE J to LAX is on the A380 which is the older J product. It's lie-flat and perfectly fine though nothing spectacular. That being said for 4 people that 17.5k difference adds up to 70k UR (assuming you are using UR given options) which is a OW TATL J award. KE tends to have lots of availability so you shouldn't have too much issue. If you want to try and get on their newer J product (same a JL's J product) you will want to get on the 748 which goes to SFO and then see if their is any award space to connect on to LAX on DL.

3) JL and CX are very good about opening up J space close to the departure date and occasionally at random points in-between. If you can get 4 J on CX HKG - LAX, I would take it in a heartbeat. You'll need to use the BA or JL websites to find space for both airlines