In late October I'm headed to Beijing to see my uncle. Since I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to new routes, new planes, etc, I thought I ask you guys.

What I'm looking for is to get from MSP to PEK with 1 or 2 stops along the way in the most comfortable seat I can find while spending around 1K to get there. (I have FF miles on Northwest btw)

I know my main option is MSP - NRT - PEK on Northwest (747-400).

Other options -
There is a direct Continental flight from EWR on a 777
There is a direct United flight from ORD on a 747-400
There is a direct flight on Air China from ORD or SFO on a 747-400

Concerns -
1) EWR + Continental = bad past experiences.
2) Air China reliability and dirty seats (reading posts)
3) I don't want to be a sardine for 14 hours
4) I'd love to use my NWA FF miles to upgrade me to a better seat, but they appear to be "sold out" September, October, and November for those seats
5) NWA going belly up


ideas?

Thanks!

Rich