Anecdotally, both this year and last, I think I've redeemed 10+ sectors for me and family in regional J. I have found regional availability excellent, and it's even better if you're willing to fly PEY or Y. I'm sure it's a bummer if the route you want isn't available; my experience with miles (and specifically Asia Miles) is they're best used as a discount mechanism for my annual flight budget, but not necessarily a free ticket I can bank on for this or that precise trip. Pay cash if unavailable and burn miles if those available and over the year or so the savings works out. (It ends up being more cash tickets than redemption tickets, to make clear!). Of course easier said by those of us who might fly a bit more often. I don't have a good solution but just to say, whereas CX might be stingy on AMS or longhaul routes, there has been a lot of availability lately at least where I fly around Asia. Business destinations mostly Shanghai, Singapore, Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo with a few others. I don't recall redeeming on Tokyo but pretty sure I did for at least a few of the first four cities.