I doubt anyone is following this, but in any case I finally booked. I am happy in that I get to try two OZ planes with Smartium J.

I was also surprised/happy to see a lot more UA availability pop up. I found a direct BUR-DEN in first. Previously I only had searched LAX-DEN which had a "free" leg in economy that had a stopover and took a total of five hours.

The KE flight in the new suites required me to overnight in ICN, so I am giving it a miss this time.

Being an infrequent visitor to the US, it was nice having options, but the more I learned the more time it took, as the newer seats & and suites that people rave about are not on every flight.

Thank you to the flyer talk members who took the time to add in their advice.