3 of 4 AS redemptions I've made on Era have been restricted to cities joined by published 7H fares. Awesome that you were able to pull your itinerary off. Connecting far parts of the state can require as many as 3 separate fares.

I was supposed to fly PHO-PIZ-BRW in December, but it only operates once or twice a week and I finished my project early, so I had to return to FAI by way of ANC. I had tried to book FAI to PHO on one AS redemption, but agent was adamant it was not possible as there was no 7h fare linking the two.

I didn't find OTZ particularly photogenic. OME has some charisma from the old buildings and weathered machinery. both are topographically flat, gravelly shores that will be drifted in with snow and fringed in sea ice. both are compact and grid like with OTZ isolated on a gravel spit and OME connected by road to the hills nearby. they're atmospheric and worth a visit, but I don't know how much wildlife/landscape photography opportunities you'd get without a snowmachine or investigating leads in the sea ice. You can walk from the AS terminal in OTZ to the far side of town in about 45min. In OME that takes about an hour (30min into town and 30min across town).