AS can't force EK to open award space in J. Thus, you are stuck having to research everything yourself. If indeed your routing is SFO-MLE, consider every option from the US-MLE and then figure out how to get from SFO to that gateway. Maybe you will hit paydirt on the first try, but this can be a painstaking process.

But, you need to be prepared to do this over and over again and then face the possibility that things will change and you won't be allowed to travel at all.