My wife and I want to use our Alaska Airlines credit card reward miles for a round trip to Tokyo from a west coast USA departure and return, first class or business, depending on the airline.

It looks like American, Cathay Pacific and JAL are the only options available from the west coast. I’m leaning towards JAL . I did see Singapore Airlines as a “earn and redeem” partner and heard that SQ is really a great product, but not sure if they accept AS reward points.

Any comments on which airline would be the best overall product for this type trip?

Are reward point flights hard to book (availability) and how many months out are they released?

I did call AS customer service and they said for a small fee, $25 or so, they would book the flight which seems like a better option for us and less hassle. I just wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks in advance.