Trying to book CX award with AS miles

[MIMS]

So this will be my first time booking CX with AS. I'm looking for 2 F class seats from ICN-DTW. I was waiting on some miles to show up so sadly i'm not at the edge of their flight schedule and availability looks scarce.

I've heard the AS forces you do only originate from US for Emirates flights...I just wanted to confirm that I can originate in Asia on CX?

I've heard that BA and Quantas are good sites to search for seats, anyone have any other tips?

 

[cavil]

The biggest issue with AS now is that they do not release partner awards until 331 days out even if the partner has released the seats. Folks with e.g. lots of BA or Qantas miles can snatch up the F seats before AS will allow you to book them.

A few years ago I was able to snag 2 CX F roundtrip SFO--JNB via HKG. A single stopover is only allowed in one direction. I used the KVS tool and had all the flight details ready before I called AS to make the reservation. However, the Qantas search site is a very good free alternative to KVS. Search for the CX legs first and backfill the connecting flights later.
Good luck.

 

[MIMS]

Cathay looks to be out of the question, but I found what I need in Emirates award chart.

 

[billatq]

I think the most annoying thing about booking CX on Alaska is that you can't actually do it on their website. Last time I wanted to do it, I needed to find inventory on the BA website and then call them up to book it. They actually publish an award chart between Hong Kong and Europe on the Alaska site, so it wouldn't be surprising if you could originate in Asia.