First time trying to use the Infinity MileageLands for an awards redemption. The plan was to make sure awards seats available and then transfer them over from Citi TYP. Trying to book 4 Business class tickets for my family from PEK-LAX. I've called in an have all the accounts set up, but I'm having a hard time with availability. Over the phone, the rep said there was only 1 Prem Econ seat avail for award redemption but that I could pay cash for a Econ or Prem Econ and then use points to upgrade. She did confirm that there were 4 Business class seats I could upgrade to with points. I looked up the current price and it'll be roughly $1k per ticket. At that point it doesn't even make sense to pay $1k + 60k points for an upgrade when an all points redemption is 75k points. My question is, does EVA typically open up more award seats closer to the departure date? Are there better sites to check EVA award availability? Open to any suggestions or advice. Thanks in advance.