You are flying to Bangkok? I've redeemed flights to Bangkok 3 times this year alone and got it without any problems (not even a waitlist). If you go for the busy flights (early evening) then you should expect them to be ....... busy.
Long haul business or first -- usually full
I fly maybe once a year on revenue fares on CX, but several times on miles. Not even Green MPC. Waitlists usually clear - we're flying home to Europe business over Christmas. Was all on waitlist first, but cleared after a while. Of course, if you now want to book a specific flight over Christmas - good luck. But what do you expect - it's not as if this is different from revenue fares either. If you want to get exactly one flight on short notice, you need to pay for the privilege.
of all the pieces of bad advise you're given over the years....
I am on green MPC, I successfully redeemed Premium Economy for 2 adults and 2 kids, one month in advance. Travelling from HK to Tokyo mid week, returning mid week.
I've only redeemed flights using Asiamiles once which was to Shanghai a few years ago. Recently its been harder to get flights and so i feel less inclination to keep using CX to collect them.
For whatever miles i do have, i would rather claim goods or something instead. I think a few months ago, you could get a Dining Concepts vouchers, which is more use to me than a flight to the wrong destination on the wrong date.
I liked Kunming when I was there in .... 2005.
Yes, by train.
That depends on you. Average high is 14-15 C and it's dry season. Good for hiking. I think Zhongdian can get cold though. Not sure whether I will head there though or just as far as Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Definitely worthwhile. Have you been there before?