I'm in the same boat and am unwilling to roll the "e-ticket receipt" dice. So, my plan is to buy the cheapest refundable SFO-PEK ticket I can find and then switch to something more reasonable next month.

I'm not willing to play ball with CA (cheapest) because their refund times can be slow and the procedures, overly cumbersome.

That leaves CX ($3000) and UA/NW ($5000). If any of you can confirm that CX is good to deal with in this regard, I'm going to go with them. Otherwise, I feel comfortable with UA.