Will be returning from HKG to LAX on April 14th,2017.

Right now, the plan is to fly coach with Cathay or AA via (Avios) but I was hoping to fly business class. Is there any options available for me?

The only thing that i can think of now is United (80k each) or Korean Air (62.5)

-United is via Eva Air. Is this better than Korean air in terms of quality? The points difference is obvious and both required a layover anyways.

Am I missing anything else?

Total passenger:4

Will be using miles for the return trip.

Thanks all!

A few thoughts

1) Finding 4 J awards on any airline is going to be a challenge so take whatever you can get and don't think about it twice

2) BR (EVA) offers a fantastic J product if you are on the 77W (same as CX J but BR offers superior soft product). If on a 747 however, it isn't worth it - most flights to the US are on the 77W but I believe SEA occasionally sees the 747 so depending on the routing UA is showing that might come into play.

3) IMO, it's not worth the extra miles for BR over KE even though BR is better. KE J to LAX is on the A380 which is the older J product. It's lie-flat and perfectly fine though nothing spectacular. That being said for 4 people that 17.5k difference adds up to 70k UR (assuming you are using UR given options) which is a OW TATL J award. KE tends to have lots of availability so you shouldn't have too much issue. If you want to try and get on their newer J product (same a JL's J product) you will want to get on the 748 which goes to SFO and then see if their is any award space to connect on to LAX on DL.

3) JL and CX are very good about opening up J space close to the departure date and occasionally at random points in-between. If you can get 4 J on CX HKG - LAX, I would take it in a heartbeat. You'll need to use the BA or JL websites to find space for both airlines

Thanks for your input. For now, I am able to see 4 seats open on Korean Air and United (Asiana not EVA - my fault).

Ideally, i would like to hop on CX but don't want to take chances on last minutes plans. Is the best bet using BA or should I use Asia miles?

I guess if my option comes down to KE or Asiana, I might just take KE since the miles are cheaper

Would you recommend First class from KE for additional 17.5k miles or not worth it?

Thanks

If you're points "rich" or not likely to use them on another travel in the near future I say go for it. KE F on the A380 is nice which I think both daily flights are and if you find one on the 748i take that.
SQ isn't bad either as an option.

Google KE F Trip Report. I think Lucky just did one on the 748 and TPG might have done one earlier this year. That will give you a good sense of what F is like and if it seems worth it.

Agree with Yoshi though above. If points rich, I would do it just because F is always better than J, if not the KE J experience is still a very good one.

i flew korean first a few months ago and business back but on china air. i was perfectly fine in business compared to first. comfort is pretty much equal. the slightly larger seat in first doesnt really change anything. if you want to pay 17.5k points for slightly better but still crappy airline food, go for it. you do get caviar service

+1 Good advice here. Where there's a relatively modest step-up in points from J to F, it's usually worth it.

I think you mean China Airlines. And its business class is pretty highly rated. I think there are certain airlines which have business class that is a step above standard business class (QR is another one).
But if you fly Korean first you get the nut service!

Can't find any Cathay flights via BA

The only option now is Korean Air for Business or Flying Asiana via United.

Am I out of other options if i m trying for Business class?

Iirc, BA may not show CX award space close in.

Am i out of options now?

Well, you could book one of the options you see available now, and then cancel (quite possibly at some $$ cost for redepositing miles) down the line if CX or some other better option opens up. As others have noted, CX does sometimes open award bookings on flights a week or so in advance.

One other thing you could do now is join awardnexus.com, which is free for some initial use by FT members. It allows you to search across several different airline programs to see if seats have opened up. For example, I've occasionally seen CX award seats available by checking the JL(CX) option on that site when BA shows nothing for CX, and vice versa. If you want to take this a step further, you could then pay some $$ for a higher level membership that sends flight alerts if seats open up.

Not sure you've done this yet, but you could also break up your searches on airlines that have F so that, for instance, you're checking for two F and two J, rather than one or the other.

Finally, have you checked award availability flying to SFO instead of LAX and then connecting from there to LAX as part of the award? (You could also do that for other cities that a given Asian airline might fly to, such as DFW, ORD or YVR, though this obviously makes for longer flight times.)

Hope it all works out.

Booking via UA is still in play. Looks like you can do OZ 777 to OZ A380

Hong Kong, HK, CN (HKG) to Seoul, KR (ICN - Incheon)
1:10 pm - 5:40 pm (3h 30m)
OZ 722 | Boeing 777-200LR
Operated By Asiana Airlines

2h 40m connection
Seoul, KR (ICN - Incheon) to Los Angeles, CA, US (LAX)
8:20 pm - 3:30 pm (11h 10m)
OZ 204 | Airbus A380-800
Operated By Asiana Airlines
Business
(I)
Dinner

80k/person with 4 seat available. You should have lie flats on HKG - ICN and will definitely have lie flats on ICN - HKG

This is definitely one of the option with the second one from Korean Air. Since both are layover from Seoul, I am debating if Asiana is worth the additional 17.5k per person.

In addition, over the weekend I was able to get 4 First Class KE flight for 80k each, which would be much better than Business Class Asiana (my initial thought since it is First vs Business). Anyone disagree with this?

We have never experience Business or First class, so i don't even know much about it aside from pictures and videos online.