I am interested in the Chase Sears Mastercard --> Petropoints --> Asia Miles plan.

However I have some reservations about the Asia Miles program as I am not familiar with this airline or program at all. A brief tour of the Asia Miles website was not reassuring, as the website was a poorly functioning and non-informative mess.

It looks like Cathay Pacific partners with American Airlines and Alaska Airlines as well as JAL.

Before I get the Chase Sears Mastercard I'd like some reassurance that these points are actually useable. How difficult is it to book award travel on Cathay Pacific or on the partner airlines? And do they charge a booking fee, service charges or "taxes" like Aeroplan does? I have about 80,000 unuseable Aeroplan miles sitting in my account because award seats are unavailable and/or the "taxes" and fees exceed the cost of just buying a ticket on another airline. Would the AsiaMiles program be the same or is it a legitimate frequent flyer program?