@david - shall we call this "mini first" as well?

Agreed. On the 737-capable hops (<6hrs) there is never going to be a way to arrive "fresh and ready" when you end up with around 4 hours of sleep. Though, on a vanity route an AU transcon where the usefulness is overshadowed by the ability to just say you have lay-flats, cramming in a 2-2 prod...

Agreed, I had booked a 777-200 flight out of SYD a little while back, too. Plenty of inventory. ExpertFlyer also shows zero across the board.

Those 350 flights, and pretty much all J class availability from/to Australia has now dried up. Was good while it lasted (a day or two).

It will be both. Check out Etihad's 380 for reference. No one seems to complain about it, either.