Originally Posted by
whimike
A YYJ-SEA award flight is just 4500 Avios each way, which translates to US$67.50 at the current value of 1.5 US cents per Avios.
That doesn't fix the OP's award availability/pricing problem. Avios may be used only for Alaska's lowest priced award inventory. If 12.5K domestic awards aren't available, and if YYJ-SJD r/t is pricing at 50K, Avios points can't be used.
(I see eponymous_coward and I were typing at the same time.)