CX F upgrade is worth quite a bit more than 1 VIP; probably 3 or 4 to 1 is the right ratio. Remember that the cost of earning that CX upgrade is quite a bit (higher) than the AA vip.

The AA FS was a superb product, but it is now getting old (introduced over 7 years ago) and showing its age. About 50% of the seats that I've personally used have had a breakage that impacted flight comfort; this is up from about 5% the previous year. AA was supposed to refurbish the F cabin when the new J seats were installed, but I've been on some 777s where that wasn't done. I guess they are short on seats and using them on the Pacific 777s first. In any case the falling apart of the hardware has been combined with a deterioration of the soft product; basically F service on AA is identical to J service on 763s (and only slightly better than J on 777s). AA has chosen to improve J and degrade F; probably a wise market decision, but doesn't do much for the F experience.

The pecking order out of HKG is CX, QF, BA, JL, AY. But for LHR-HKG BA is much more competitive after T5 opens (presuming that HKG operates out of T5 and not T3) due to the better pre-departure facilities.