Eyes Only,
One more thing...
"JFK in a -8I never on the cards, LAX was even marginal."
This statement shows your ignorance of common knowledge. Winter winds being what they often are, LAX-HKG and JFK-HKG have approximately the same flight times (or air mileage) despite JFK being further away in ground miles. So it really does not matter whether you take off from LAX or JFK with a fully loaded -8, it is going to be a nail-biter either way in the winter.
BR,
CXorcist