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AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)

Old Aug 4, 2015, 1:37 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
GUIDE to redeeming AA miles for Japan Air Lines awards:
  • JL awards are now shown show and can be booked on aa.com
  • AwardNexus (free to FlyerTalk members for basic searches) will also reveal, and (for a fee) alert, on JL award seats
  • AA awards on JL must be MileSAAver (AAnytime awards are only available on AA marketed and AA operated flights)
  • There are no onerous fuel or carrier-imposed surcharges using AAdvantage miles for awards using JL
  • JL initially releases awards to AAvantage members 330 days out at 10:00 am JST time (18:00 PDT, 17:00 PST). Note, JL award inventory is released to members of other FFPs 360 day out and updates award and revenue seat award availability once daily ~09:30-12:00 Pacific time
  • JL may release 0-2 F and 0-4 J award seats initially; until taken they remain available up to three months from release
  • No further seats are likely to be released until shortly (~14 days) prior to scheduled departure - but the last F seat will be retained for sale, not released into award inventory
  • No stopovers are allowed on AA awards. Connections may be as long as 23:59.
  • Only JAL Mileage Bank members can waitlist awards
  • All awards for domestic Japan will default to Economy (including international F or J award with domestic segments); these can often be upgraded at reasonable cost at the ticket counter in the Japan connecting airport
  • If JL & QF are showing availability, but AA can't see it, try calling the Australia AA center as it may be a point-of-sale issue

For 2012-2015 posts, please see
ARCHIVE: AA Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (master thd)

For further information, see:
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on
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AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)

Old Dec 15, 2014, 1:43 pm
  #1  
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AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)

Please see the attachment below containing useful information JonNYC posted about some of the rules regarding AAdvantage awards using Japan Airlines.
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Last edited by JDiver; Oct 15, 2018 at 2:05 pm
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 1:05 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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am I understanding the new rules?

I need to get something booked before devaluation for a trip to Vietnam in 2017 flying JL. I'm running into timing due to being on vacation in Sri Lanka from Feb. 10-27 so I can't call AA. I'm also trying to avoid Tet.

Let's say I call AA on Feb. 9 to book outbound seats for Jan. 4, 2017. When I get back from SL on Feb. 27 I can call in for return seats on Jan. 22. That's really longer than I want my trip to be but I just want to get something booked.

Can I keep changing the dates up until March 22 to get dates I'd prefer to travel in, the month of Feb. 2017? Each time I call to make a change am I reticketed? Is there any way to be able to travel in March 2017 under the old redemption levels?
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 1:21 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: Jan 2012
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Originally Posted by susiesan
I need to get something booked before devaluation for a trip to Vietnam in 2017 flying JL. I'm running into timing due to being on vacation in Sri Lanka from Feb. 10-27 so I can't call AA. I'm also trying to avoid Tet.

Let's say I call AA on Feb. 9 to book outbound seats for Jan. 4, 2017. When I get back from SL on Feb. 27 I can call in for return seats on Jan. 22. That's really longer than I want my trip to be but I just want to get something booked.

Can I keep changing the dates up until March 22 to get dates I'd prefer to travel in, the month of Feb. 2017? Each time I call to make a change am I reticketed? Is there any way to be able to travel in March 2017 under the old redemption levels?
Date changes should not cause a reticketing. Your award would be good for one year from the date of ticketing. For example, if you ticket on 3/21/16 you can make date changes for free and would need to complete travel by 3/21/17.
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 4:16 pm
  #4  
 
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Originally Posted by susiesan
I need to get something booked before devaluation for a trip to Vietnam in 2017 flying JL. I'm running into timing due to being on vacation in Sri Lanka from Feb. 10-27 so I can't call AA. I'm also trying to avoid Tet.
I would highly suggest signing up for Skype. I had never used it before and did it to call the Australia AA call center for EY tickets. It's a quick download, and I put $10 on my new skype account to make the calls.

I've now used Skype 2x to call Australia from the US and then from Brazil called the US AA number about an upgrade. The calls have totaled about 1.5 hours, and I don't think I've gone through more than $4 of the money I put on my account.
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 5:55 pm
  #5  
 
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Originally Posted by flyingeph12
Date changes should not cause a reticketing. Your award would be good for one year from the date of ticketing. For example, if you ticket on 3/21/16 you can make date changes for free and would need to complete travel by 3/21/17.
If I were to ticket 3/21/16 for Feb. 2017 travel, then call in April 2016 call to change the dates to early March 2017 travel, will the higher rexemption rates apply?
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 7:21 pm
  #6  
 
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Originally Posted by susiesan
If I were to ticket 3/21/16 for Feb. 2017 travel, then call in April 2016 call to change the dates to early March 2017 travel, will the higher rexemption rates apply?
If you simply change the date, this should not cause a reprice at the new rates.
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 8:41 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Originally Posted by flyingeph12
If you simply change the date, this should not cause a reprice at the new rates.
Have you seen any information that confirms this to be true? At this point no one has had to deal with this issue yet. Can you refer me to a reply so ewhee that validates this info?

I'm just afraid that if I wait until close to the March 22 cutoff date to ticket that all the F and J seats from the USA to NRT and on to HAN and SGN on JL will have already been snapped up and I'll be left with nothing. I wold rather go to Vietnam at a less desirable time than not go at all.
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Old Jan 3, 2016, 9:05 pm
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by flyingeph12
If you simply change the date, this should not cause a reprice at the new rates.
But in this case wouldn't it require reticketing, since the new date falls outside the 12-month use window?
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Old Jan 4, 2016, 6:30 am
  #9  
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Originally Posted by chrisremo
But in this case wouldn't it require reticketing, since the new date falls outside the 12-month use window?
isn't the proposed actual travel date still within a year of initial ticket issuance in this case? issue in late march 2016, travel in early march 2017?
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Old Jan 4, 2016, 9:00 am
  #10  
 
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Originally Posted by susiesan
Have you seen any information that confirms this to be true? At this point no one has had to deal with this issue yet. Can you refer me to a reply so ewhee that validates this info?

I'm just afraid that if I wait until close to the March 22 cutoff date to ticket that all the F and J seats from the USA to NRT and on to HAN and SGN on JL will have already been snapped up and I'll be left with nothing. I wold rather go to Vietnam at a less desirable time than not go at all.
There has not been anything official from AA, but you can refer to this blog post from TPG that discusses this issue:
http://thepointsguy.com/2015/12/chan...r-devaluation/

There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding this issue on FT as well. You can refer to these threads as a start:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-new-rate.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...new-price.html

Since it seems your ideal travel date is March 2017, my point of view is that there isn't much harm in waiting until March to book. You will have 331 days on which to find something that works--which includes JL and CX (as well as potentially AA for the transpacific flight). I can't guarantee, but I would bet that it is more likely than not you will be able to book something that works between March 2016 and Feb 2017. You will then have a year to refine the dates, and perhaps even the routing (I would guess that simple routing changes, esp if the overwater carrier doesn't change, won't trigger a reprice, but I am not as certain about this).
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Old Jan 4, 2016, 9:52 am
  #11  
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Originally Posted by flyingeph12
Since it seems your ideal travel date is March 2017, my point of view is that there isn't much harm in waiting until March to book. You will have 331 days on which to find something that works--which includes JL and CX (as well as potentially AA for the transpacific flight). I can't guarantee, but I would bet that it is more likely than not you will be able to book something that works between March 2016 and Feb 2017. You will then have a year to refine the dates, and perhaps even the routing (I would guess that simple routing changes, esp if the overwater carrier doesn't change, won't trigger a reprice, but I am not as certain about this).

My ideal dates to travel would be anytime after Feb. 15 2017 which is 2 weeks post Tet which will be Feb. 1 2017.

So let's say I call March 13 2016 and book Feb. 6 2017 as outbound, then call March 20 2016 and book Feb 13 2017 as return. A month later in April 2016 call back and change to travel dates in March 2017 with the last day of travel being March 20, 2017. This will work?
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Old Jan 4, 2016, 11:56 am
  #12  
 
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I am planning to book a first class JAL award with aadvantage miles which would include two legs on JAL and one intra-european leg on a oneworld partner. Ideally it has to be ICN-NRT-FRA-MAD.
How do you search for it? Do i have to find availability for individual legs on the BA website and then to call AA?
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Old Jan 5, 2016, 4:06 pm
  #13  
 
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I'm on an award ticket in Y on NRT-JFK (JL4). The flight is in 18 days. There are 9/38 J seats remaining. The NRT-JFK leg is part of a larger itinerary from CMB to JFK; does anyone have any anecdotal experience if there is decent chance at T-20 for some of these 9 remaining J seats to become available? I read that JAL releases seats at 10 AM Japan time/8 PM EST; does that apply to partner awards?

Wondering if I should switch my itinerary to CX...but I'd rather go via Tokyo (and have the day to explore and eat).

Last edited by ZKrunk; Jan 6, 2016 at 4:38 pm
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Old Jan 6, 2016, 9:04 am
  #14  
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An unexpected reference point - JL released four (!) seats on nrt-lax within a day of departure so i reticketed all of us... plan to eat kids' caviar
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Old Jan 6, 2016, 4:35 pm
  #15  
 
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Originally Posted by azepine00
An unexpected reference point - JL released four (!) seats on nrt-lax within a day of departure so i reticketed all of us... plan to eat kids' caviar
hehe nice!!^
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