-IMO, ANA is much nicer than JAL
-CX can be done in 2 stops if you connect through YYZ, YVR, SFO, or LAX (but YYZ-HKG often uses a 2 class A340)
-Yeah, via-Europe is bad news; you might be able to work NW-KLM through AMS for 100K miles in WBC, but at the price of a 12 hour layover on the outbound and an overnight on the return.