Wow thanks for the pdf map and the recommendations. I've shuttled myself to the left side of the plane and well, a little further back but shouldn't be a huge issue.

I had Asiamiles earning questions on a V booking, but after much research I think its best to just earn it as AsiaMiles and not 50% Alaska or 25% Avios since I have no mile accumulation in either program (Alaska is difficult for me to transfer via CC points and I think the 25% Avios is way too little). I should have 17,012 Asia Miles which is enough for a short hop from SF to other nearby cities.

**I think I may have confused myself with the AsiaMiles Award chart. The first award chart on https://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts

Implies that I still have to be using CX for 0-600 miles (as in I can't fly from SFO-> LAX using only 10k miles?)? Or is 1 carrier via lets say AA be okay?