Nice summary, BBB ^ I look forward to the trip report.

Sorry, am I missing something here? You got a J ticket but can ask for an F seat which is not an Op-Up? Can anyone explain this to me?

sometimes cx flies 3 class planes on routes where they only sell 2 classes. I believe he means "first class seats" when he writes "First Class". So F class isn't served as F class (it has biz food, etc), but the seats are obviously still there and filled with "J" pax. If you're a pax your BP will read "business class: 2A" or whatever. Is that what you're asking?

2 class routes are sometimes operated with 3 class aircraft. The F cabin, if open for seat allocation, would be available to be occupied by J pax with J service.

To be fair to BBB, he did originally have an F ticket ... as the JFK-DPS was a BA Miles award under the old currency. Thus his HKG-DPS sector was a 'downgrade to J' as no F sold on that route.
The conventional wisdom is that such connecting F passengers in CX, get first dibs at the F-cabin on a regional 747. Sadly, CX have a less than 100% record in effecting this.

However, kudos to BBB for looking at the positive and getting to have a bonus experience of the old J to describe.

Anyway .. thanks BBB, a nice mini-report. I will always remember your SFO report and it inspiring me to revisit the Bay Area. MrsFish is certainly looking forward to your Bali report :)

I wonder whether the OP checked seating charts via ExpertFlyer (or the equivalent) to see whether seats were in fact being assigned upfront on the 747 to DPS? When we made the trip last year, there were no seats assigned upfront until about 2 hours before flight-time. When I refreshed the seating map upstairs in the Wing (before it was closed for the current renovations), and I saw seat 1A assigned, I very quickly made my pitch to one of the wonderful desk attendants there, they made a phone call, and we were assigned 2A and 3A. BTW, the cabanas upstairs in the Wing (again, before the renovations) did not suffer extreme heat/humidity problems ---- and hopefully will not when the renovations are complete.

Yes, thanks for clarifying. Been op-uped once from J to F on an HKG-TPE flight due to equipment change from 2-class to 3-class. Now I see the difference.