I'm a bit new to Asia Miles. Hoping to book a J flight on our return from HKG to somewhere on the west coast (SF, LAX, maybe Vancouver). We're looking at first week of January and can't find anything.

Is availability pretty scarce on J class, in particular to North America? I know CX rarely releases awards to airline partners these days, but I'm not sure if the same is true for their own program.

Is it better to find availability when the calendar opens or close to departure?