Very helpful. Thank you.
One option that I ended up using for domestic flights combining DL/NW and partners is similar. I call DL to find out which partner flights have award availability (AS within Alaska for example). Then I go online and book using multi city and booking one segment at a time. No "mileage" level is given at the time of booking but it did price out at 25K miles including the free stop in Anchorage.