JAL Mileage Bank - JAL to Asia - Ticketing, connections--help!

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to put together an itinerary for an Asia trip at the end of the year but I had a couple of questions. Hope you can help!

Here's what I want to do:

Dec 28
NYC - TYO

Dec 29 (arrive)
TYO - HKG

Jan 6
HKG - TYO

Jan 12
TYO - NYC

I want to take Premium Economy on JAL from/to NYC, but I can't book all the flights together on the JAL site because it only lets me choose between Economy, Business, and First.

1) Will I run into any problems if I buy my NYC-TYO ticket on the JAL site and then buy my TYO-HKG ticket on Orbitz? I wouldn't be staying overnight--I'd just be connecting in Narita. So when I check in at JFK, I would show the agent both of my tickets to make sure my bags go with me to HKG?

2) My other question is if my JAL flight arrives at Narita at 4:20 PM, will my luggage and I have enough time to make a 6:25 PM JAL flight from NRT-HKG? What happens if I miss the 6:25 PM flight? Does JAL have another flight that night or do they put you up in a hotel?

3) There's an ANA flight from NRT-HKG at 6:40 PM that's a few hundred dollars cheaper. Is it enough time to transfer from the JAL flight to an ANA flight (different terminal I assume)? Any issues I might have at JFK or NRT if I switch airlines?

4) I just browsed this forum and read some worrying threads--is there a chance that JAL will be out of business (and not offering flights) by December/January? I don't want to spend that much only to lose my tickets at the last minute.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks everyone!

1) You will run into no problems when checkin. Just show your other ticket itinerary and the agent should be able to check your lugagge through and also print your boarding pass.

2) That is plenty of time to connect. I believe MCT at NRT is under 1 hour. If you happen to miss the flight (since you are on seperate tickets) they might or might not accomodate you on the flight the following morning.

3) You should have enough time to transfer between the terminals. There is an air-side (don't need to pass immigration/customs) and get to terminal 1. Also that would be enough time to transfer bags between JL and NH(which the JL agent at JFK should be able to do for you).

4) Don't worry Japan is not going to allow JL to stop flying they still keep pride that JL is their national flag ship carrier.

Wow, thanks so much for the quick reply fumitami! I'll give it a little bit more thought, but you've definitely helped a lot and I think I might go with this itinerary.

Try a travel agency. They should be able to help you book the ticket in PY. All you need to do is to book it in E/W/Y class. Price on JAL website usually is more expensive. I was able to save USD200-300 on my K class LAX-HKG ticket. Also you will have better protection in case of delay of your JFK flight if everything is booked under the same PNR.

If you have JMB miles, you can try booking your outbound in K class and upgrade your JFK-NRT fight to business class by using 10,000 miles too.

JAL website would not let you book your entire trip in Premium Economy because there is no such service at all from TYO<->HKG. The website will only price your entire itinerary in the classes that are available to all sectors. A travel agent should be able to do this for you though, booking the JFK<->TYO sectors in Prem Econ, and the TYO<->HKG sectors in Economy. Putting your entire trip in one booking will almost always save you more money than purchasing two different tickets for each segment of your journey, as tickets ex-TYO usually carry a higher price tag.

1) If you should end up buying two different tickets from JAL, showing them both tickets should enable your bags to be checked through to HKG.

2) You should have plenty of time for connecting between your JFK and HKG flight. The 6:45pm is the last flight out of NRT to HKG that evening. Barring some very unusual circumstances, you should have no problem catching your connection. Don't know if this is going to make you feel better or not - you're probably not going to be the only person making this connection that day, so if anything should really happen to delay your JFK flight, JAL should be able to make arrangements to help you out (another reason to book your entire trip with one airline.)

3) Unless ANA is having a very good promo price from NRT->HKG, I would stick with JAL and try to book your entire trip on one itinerary to keep the cost down.

4) I really don't see JAL going out of business within this time frame.

Good luck

Wow, thanks for all the great replies everyone! I'm really interested in this:


If you have JMB miles, you can try booking your outbound in K class and upgrade your JFK-NRT fight to business class by using 10,000 miles too.

How can I do this? I actually have a little over 10,000 miles from my trip last year!

How can I do this? I actually have a little over 10,000 miles from my trip last year!

http://www.jal.co.jp/121campaign/super/index_en_ar.html

You can only upgrade your outbound flight using this promotion because your inbound flight doesn't fall into the campaign period. But I wouldn't be surprised if JAL once again extend this offer by the end of the year.

Just a reminder, premium economy tickets booked in E class is NOT eligible for upgrade. Even if there's no K class seats available, as long as you have a confirmed upgrade on that sector (and the remaining ones), you can issue the ticket.

http://www.jal.co.jp/121campaign/super/index_en_ar.html

You can only upgrade your outbound flight using this promotion because your inbound flight doesn't fall into the campaign period. But I wouldn't be surprised if JAL once again extend this offer by the end of the year.

Just a reminder, premium economy tickets booked in E class is NOT eligible for upgrade. Even if there's no K class seats available, as long as you have a confirmed upgrade on that sector (and the remaining ones), you can issue the ticket.

Thanks JALPak! Do you know how much a one-way Premium Economy ticket would be from NYC to NRT? I'll give JAL a call tomorrow and see if paying the full Economy fare (I assume that's what I have to do?) will break my budget...

Thanks JALPak! Do you know how much a one-way Premium Economy ticket would be from NYC to NRT? I'll give JAL a call tomorrow and see if paying the full Economy fare (I assume that's what I have to do?) will break my budget...

No don't pay the FULL ECONOMY fare. It is USD5500 for weekday travel. You might as well buy a business class ticket. I don't have the consolidator fare, but you can get the sample fare from JAL website. You can try using HIS or JTB website for a quote.


Fare comparison (http://www.ar.jal.com/region/en/flight_planning/fares/py_jp.html)
E fare (http://www.ar.jal.com/region/en/flight_planning/fares/pvs.html) ($1751 + tax)
W fare (http://www.ar.jal.com/region/en/flight_planning/fares/pv.html) ($2551 + tax)

HIS (http://his-usa.com/ja/cms/Cms.aspx?CG_ID=bze) Fare is 1438 + tax (probably E class)

I would try some other TA. Mine in LA always beat HIS/JTB price

from NYC round trip is showing up as $1500-1700 premium economy on JAL via HIS.

http://www.his-usa.com/en/cms/Cms.aspx?CG_ID=ec

unfortunately, they do not have the same content on their english site (which is to your advantage if you can read japanese).

basically it's also the same prices to nagoya and osaka:

10/10-10/25 $1,538～ $1,538～ $1,538～
10/26-12/3 $1,438～ $1,438～ $1,438～
12/4-12/13 $1,538～ $1,538～ $1,538～
12/14-12/25 $1,738～ $1,738～ $1,738～
12/26-12/31 $1,438～ $1,438～ $1,438～

i believe the fuel surcharge (YQ) is already in there but not the taxes (which they estimate at $75).

I've never used a travel agent before (just used the usual online travel sites), so I'm going to call HIS tomorrow and see if they can give me a better deal for my itinerary. Thanks again guys...