Originally Posted by
sudobuntu
1)
BRW-LAX is southbound.
LAX-PDX is northbound.
You're backtracking, and you can't do that. That's an open-jaw roundtrip. HNL and JFK work because they're east/west and LAX is a logical stopover point for those routes.
2) BRW-SNA-HNL doesn't work because there is no direct SNA-HNL flight. They all go through SFO/SJC/SEA which is... backtracking.
3) You can certainly SDC after award travel has started, and I believe you can even fully change the remainder of the ticket, subject of course to the $125 change fee. I'm unclear on if elite benefits will help here, outside of SDC.
It isn't a matter of East/West, North/South, it is a matter of what AS allows as a valid routing between point A and point B.
You can most certainly can fly SFO-SEA and have a stopover in SEA (1 day, 2 days, 1 month, 6 months) before flying SEA-LAX for a grand total of 5K points. Ultimately, you are flying North to go South but this is a valid routing on AS for SFO-LAX. It can be purchased as revenue or on an award. Notice the 5K? You are paying for a hop award from SFO-LAX.
Use the regular one-way search between A and B to see how AS will route it. Check weekdays and weekends because every route may not be available everyday. You should be able to do a stopover at anyone of the connection cities along the route using the multi-city search.
James