Newb with points for r/t SFO/HKG/SYD (?)
 

150K MR
200K UR
350K AA

2 of us want to travel from anywhere on the US West Coast (we'd consider elsewhere, e.g., Dallas) to Sydney October/November/December 2015. We hope to embed the Thanksgiving holiday (Nov. 26-29) somewhere in there. We want to fly Cathay Pacific lie flats. (Business class, right? They don't seem to have 1st on those routes. Or is there something else more luxe?)

I'm starting to haunt the JAL site to find CX award availability (is there a better way?), and would love to know any hints and tricks from more experienced flyers. Should I subscribe to Expert Flyer? Just give up and hire a booking service? Figure out a new route?

Feel free (I know you will) to administer wrist slaps, move or close the post, etc., if this is in the wrong place.

Thanks in advance.

A few thoughts.
CX does not show on EF.Try QF or Awardnexus. Keep in mind that you can not book with AA miles more than 331 days out.
QF to SYD from NA is difficult in J so look at CX to HKG or SIN.Going onto SYD would be 2 awards (55000 + 35000)in J for a total of 360000 AA miles RT for 2 so you need another 10000 AA miles. You can also look at CX to SIN RT at 220000 miles for 2 and use UR/MR carriers on to SYD.
Check out FT'er Jaminbaker (SP?) as he seems to be the guru for getting to SE Asia on miles. Good luck.

Cathay Pacific does not fly first class into Australia any more. The 'most luxe' option would be Qantas first class from LAX or DFW. Qantas business class on the A380 also has fully-flat seats, although I'm not claiming that's better than Cathay Pacific.

As mentioned above, you can book 331 days in advance and the seats in J & F sell out extremely quickly, if they even survive to the 331 day mark after Qantas people pick over them.

What is in your favor is flexible dates (that is the impression from your posting, anyway).

My suggestion would be to look as early as possible in your window. You don't say how long you are looking to go to Australia for - 2 weeks? 2 months? The closer to Christmas you try to return, the more difficult your task will be. Therefore, if you're able to book in October/November, I'd suggest you figure out your plans quickly and start looking at the 331 day window.

Your best bet is arguably SQ (Singapore Air) via MR+UR out of SIN, combined with AA on CX (or even mixing AA in itself to HKG) to get you to SIN. SQ has decent availability in F in their own program (since as mentioned, CX does not do F to Australia), and MR and UR are both SQ transfer partners (and there's a discount for online booking).

You can't book this as one award on AA as you are intending to do- AA does not allow Asia Zone 2 (HKG) transit to Australia/NZ, as mentioned. 2 QF seats on one flight from the USA on an award is like trying to buy a winning lottery ticket (good luck). North America->Australia/NZ in premium classes is probably the hardest single award to find out there. QF elites will have access to those seats before you do (QF gets them at 355, AA gets them at 331), and will snap them up promptly.

I'd recommend a sub to KVS tool also - great way to search for CX award space and then you can create your own itinerary, then give to an AAgent to book, much easier than relying on them to search for you.

CX F is a phenomenal way to fly - if two awards plus a stop in HKG aren't off the table, would highly recommend - especially since CX F awards are relatively easy to come by.