JAL Mileage Bank - Diamond Priority Waitlist for award seats?

Diamond members get this benefit:

When your preferred JAL Group flight is fully booked, priority waitlisting will apply based on the type of fares.

OH is getting upset with limited availability of F award seats NRT-JFK and vv. She has Diamond status, and virtually all flights may be waitlisted, for F awards, even up to 330 days in advance.

Does her Diamond benefit give her "priority waitlisting" over other statuses, even if she joined the waitlist later? Is "priority waitlisting" even available for award seats at all?

How close to the departure date are waitlisted passengers given the option to obtain a ticket? 24 hours, less? Any stories? The waitlist cannot be joined less than 4 days prior. Anyone who needs to make definite plans in advance has to end up buying a J ticket, or getting some indirect award instead, it seems.

Does her Diamond benefit give her "priority waitlisting" over other statuses, even if she joined the waitlist later? Is "priority waitlisting" even available for award seats at all?

My experience is with NH, but I believe JL is similar: if a DIA joins the waitlist, they are immediately moved to the top; if there are other DIAs on the waitlist, they are waitlisted in order of fare class. If there is a DIA out there who knows differently, please correct me if I am wrong!

How close to the departure date are waitlisted passengers given the option to obtain a ticket? 24 hours, less? Any stories? The waitlist cannot be joined less than 4 days prior. Anyone who needs to make definite plans in advance has to end up buying a J ticket, or getting some indirect award instead, it seems.

Again, my experience with NH is anywhere from a day to a few months before departure. It depends on the load. If you think you might have trouble clearing, I believe you can ask to be put on the waitlist for multiple flights, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Diamond members get this benefit:



OH is getting upset with limited availability of F award seats NRT-JFK and vv. She has Diamond status, and virtually all flights may be waitlisted, for F awards, even up to 330 days in advance.

Does her Diamond benefit give her "priority waitlisting" over other statuses, even if she joined the waitlist later? Is "priority waitlisting" even available for award seats at all?

How close to the departure date are waitlisted passengers given the option to obtain a ticket? 24 hours, less? Any stories? The waitlist cannot be joined less than 4 days prior. Anyone who needs to make definite plans in advance has to end up buying a J ticket, or getting some indirect award instead, it seems.
Okay NH clearly states that Diamond get highest priority. If you look clearly you will see that JL on the other hand claims that all elites have the highest priority upgrade with no mention of one of the other like NH does. Now none of us actually know whether it is prioritised within the program so if a crystal waitlists before a Diamond whether the crystal clears first but the website doesn`t say that Diamonds are on the top but you would think logically wise that would be internationally.

I sure as hope Diamonds do clear first as i`m waitlisted for a C seat upgrade and i want it to clear!

Okay NH clearly states that Diamond get highest priority. If you look clearly you will see that JL on the other hand claims that all elites have the highest priority upgrade with no mention of one of the other like NH does. Now none of us actually know whether it is prioritised within the program so if a crystal waitlists before a Diamond whether the crystal clears first but the website doesn`t say that Diamonds are on the top but you would think logically wise that would be internationally.

I sure as hope Diamonds do clear first as i`m waitlisted for a C seat upgrade and i want it to clear!

Diamond does not get the highest priority even if they prioritize according to status. There's always Diamond Titanium

Diamond members get this benefit:



OH is getting upset with limited availability of F award seats NRT-JFK and vv. She has Diamond status, and virtually all flights may be waitlisted, for F awards, even up to 330 days in advance.

Does her Diamond benefit give her "priority waitlisting" over other statuses, even if she joined the waitlist later? Is "priority waitlisting" even available for award seats at all?

How close to the departure date are waitlisted passengers given the option to obtain a ticket? 24 hours, less? Any stories? The waitlist cannot be joined less than 4 days prior. Anyone who needs to make definite plans in advance has to end up buying a J ticket, or getting some indirect award instead, it seems.

My guess is your waitlist for June flights didn't clear? There are only 8 daily F seats in each direction. If the cabin is full, JAL won't be releasing the award seats no matter how early you waitlisted. You can check the seat availability on flightstat.com to get an accurate count of number of seats left on the flight. What I have learned is that some F flyers don't assign their seats in advanced and the seat map isn't the most accurate indication of availability.

My experience is with NH, but I believe JL is similar: if a DIA joins the waitlist, they are immediately moved to the top; if there are other DIAs on the waitlist, they are waitlisted in order of fare class. If there is a DIA out there who knows differently, please correct me if I am wrong!



Again, my experience with NH is anywhere from a day to a few months before departure. It depends on the load. If you think you might have trouble clearing, I believe you can ask to be put on the waitlist for multiple flights, but I'm not 100% sure on this.

Good to know that NH also sometimes releases seats to the waitlist one day prior. This is OH's main complaint about JL right now.

I think JL can put her on two waitlists at a time.

Diamond does not get the highest priority even if they prioritize according to status. There's always Diamond Titanium

Not sure whether to mention this to OH, when trying to convince her to stay with JMB. :(

My guess is your waitlist for June flights didn't clear? There are only 8 daily F seats in each direction. If the cabin is full, JAL won't be releasing the award seats no matter how early you waitlisted. You can check the seat availability on flightstat.com to get an accurate count of number of seats left on the flight. What I have learned is that some F flyers don't assign their seats in advanced and the seat map isn't the most accurate indication of availability.

She gave up on the June flights a while ago, thanks for asking. Other uses for the miles.

Thanks for the tip about flightstat.com, I will check it out.

Not sure whether to mention this to OH, when trying to convince her to stay with JMB. :(

If getting F awards is important, try switching to a US based program or CX. They are good at giving out F award seats

Diamond does not get the highest priority even if they prioritize according to status. There's always Diamond Titanium
Yeah there`s a lot of those around so you`re completely screwed.

Yeah there`s a lot of those around so you`re completely screwed.

No but there are lots of Diamonds with turtle tags vs those who only qualified because Malev went belly up like you did. Those could possibly have higher priority over you say when they want to clear a waiting list on rev ticket.

No but there are lots of Diamonds with turtle tags vs those who only qualified because Malve went belly up like you did. Those could possibly have higher priority over you say when they want to clear a waiting list on rev ticket.
Nearly got the spelling correct. It`s Malev. Who knows how they upgrade. It`s a big secret.

Nearly got the spelling correct. It`s Malev. Who knows how they upgrade. It`s a big secret.

LOL blame auto correct :p

I didn't say upgrade :p Remember manual intervention is always possible in any of these systems. If I were the one who implement such system, timestamp, status and booking class wouldn't be the only parameters to determine your priority.

The only serious thing i could find on this is a post by poyopoyo_ponyoさん who im sure is an authority on this matter saying http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1253157622

３．ステータスが上がれば状況は変わるものですか？


3. 変わると思います。
待ちリスト上でステータスが最も上の人から順に空いたお席を回します、と当時JGCのオペレータに言われま した。つまりダイヤモンド会員やJGCプレミア会員が後から割り込んでくれば、残念ながらそれ までです。

なおその時点での待ち人数は聞けば教えてもらえますが、ステータス別の待ち人数、もしくはそのなかで何位な のかは教えてもらえませんでした（いずれも当時談）。

I think that pretty much sums it up.

The only serious thing i could find on this is a post by poyopoyo_ponyoさん who im sure is an authority on this matter saying http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1253157622

３．ステータスが上がれば状況は変わるものですか？


3. 変わると思います。
待ちリスト上でステータスが最も上の人から順に空いたお席を回します、と当時JGCのオペレータに言われま した。つまりダイヤモンド会員やJGCプレミア会員が後から割り込んでくれば、残念ながらそれ までです。

なおその時点での待ち人数は聞けば教えてもらえますが、ステータス別の待ち人数、もしくはそのなかで何位な のかは教えてもらえませんでした（いずれも当時談）。

I think that pretty much sums it up.

I gather the gist of this is, Diamonds have waitlist priority over Premiers, etc. Thanks.

Doesn't matter much if you need certainty more than a few days beforehand, when they open up the waitlist for certain flights, though.