Originally Posted by
rflor
I was looking at Friday, but can pull it up a day to Thursday if that substantially increases my odds.
You could monitor the flights for a couple of weeks before booking, then plan to purchase either the Thursday or Friday flight. Upgrades for evening flights tend to be harder to get than for morning departures. United typically clears upgrades within about seven days of departure, so it’s worth keeping an eye on availability during that window by searching the LAX–HKG route.
Good luck.