JAL Mileage Bank - JL/NH- choose a program

Basically I'm doing this to maximise my earning in miles cuz there's a few restaurants in HK that I go to gives milage on one of these 2 programs. I am wonderign which one would give me more earnings all round.

Case: There is this restuarnt I go to that gives me 1miles/20HKD on either program (and nothing else).

Besides this, we'd go to japan say some once a year (usually more). most local spendings dont get CC points (many places don't take CC in JP) but I've recently found out the ANA edy, gets me some miles here and there- and also in some department stores. (I suppose I could dbl dip with my CC and edy).

Has JL got any equivalant (edy-ish IC cards) program? (I know there is the Suica but I can't figure out how to get it.... and I thought edy coverage is far wider than Suica?)

Also, are there goodies which I should choose one program over the other?- One I can think of is NH's HKG-KIX flight is in the morning whilst JL's in the afternoon but this is more a personal thing.

I know it's not half efficient in earning miles this way, but perhaps I could throw in a hotel or car rental here or there to maximize how much i can use these miles.

One I can think of is NH's HKG-KIX flight is in the morning whilst JL's in the afternoon but this is more a personal thing.


ANA's HKG-KIX flight also departs in the afternoon at around JL702's time.
http://www.ana.co.jp/wws/hk/e/travelservice/departure/schedule/hongkong.html#from

However, NH's KIX-HKG flight departs an hour later than JL's (10am vs 11am)

Hi, can I ask how you are going to double dip?

(I suppose I could dbl dip with my CC and edy).


I don't know any establishments that accept JL's IC card outside airports in Japan.

Hi, can I ask how you are going to double dip?


Sorry maybe it's unclear or it's not realy double dip. say, go to seibu, pay by CC ( I guess Takoshiyama/Seibu kind of dept stores will take foreign CC), and earn NH miles. Just like spending in, say, DL mall with DL CC- you get points for spending on CC and u get points for transaction with the merchant.

Sorry maybe it's unclear or it's not realy double dip. say, go to seibu, pay by CC ( I guess Takoshiyama/Seibu kind of dept stores will take foreign CC), and earn NH miles. Just like spending in, say, DL mall with DL CC- you get points for spending on CC and u get points for transaction with the merchant.

I see. I thought you might know a way to use a HKG c/c to charge for edy. There used to be a lot of Japanese c/c that allowed this. So you could double dip -- charging an edy card with a credit card that gives you miles for charging and then using the edy card and u get miles. Many have discontinued this. One of the few exceptions, as far as I know, is JAL credit cards.

JL has also tied up with retailer group Aeon, which issues waon cards, accepted at Ministop convenience stores, Aeon group supermarkets such as Jusco. Double dipping is possible if you have a JAL c/c.

The UFJ Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card is another "double-dipper":

You get 1 LH mile per 100 Yen spent and you also get Smile Points which can be converted to JAL miles... Not sure about the exact ratio but I converted every year the max of 15.000 miles to JAL :-)

The UFJ Lufthansa Miles & More Credit Card is another "double-dipper":

You get 1 LH mile per 100 Yen spent and you also get Smile Points which can be converted to JAL miles... Not sure about the exact ratio but I converted every year the max of 15.000 miles to JAL :-)

I believe Smile Points will be gone in the coming months. You could also use one of those cards for edy charges, which technically meant 'triple-dipping.'

Over the years in the past, I flew *A (meaning ANA as THE Japanese Airline) and never looked at JAL. However, since ANA flights I wanted to fly were often full in the past two-three years, I started to fly JAL.

As for Mileage Programme, I am more satisfied with JAL than ANA.
reasons:
1) JAL's award on JAL operated flights is more generous.
2) If you are a JAL CC member, you can enroll yourself into some of their programmes (if you pay @JPY2000, then you can accumulate 100% of the flight miles on JAL even in case when you normally get 50% or 70% based on the booking class).
3) If you reach Diamond member, you can enjoy any F-Class lounge when flying any OW flights (ANA Diamond can enjoy F-Cls lounge only when you fly ANA flight).

ANA has also advantages:
1) ANA's award on other *A flights is more flexible than JAL's OW award; you can change the date of return, for example even on non-ANA flight.
2) EDY is widely accepted in Japan.

You could also use one of those cards for edy charges, which technically meant 'triple-dipping.'

You could, but then you either need a Japanese mobile phone or a personal Edy USB reader -- there's no other way (that I know of) to charge an ANA Edy card with a credit card.

Just a few notes from my experiences:


2) If you are a JAL CC member, you can enroll yourself into some of their programmes (if you pay @JPY2000, then you can accumulate 100% of the flight miles on JAL even in case when you normally get 50% or 70% based on the booking class).

I have only received these additional miles only for tickets purchased in Japan. No elite-qualifying miles.

3) If you reach Diamond member, you can enjoy any F-Class lounge when flying any OW flights (ANA Diamond can enjoy F-Cls lounge only when you fly ANA flight).

ANA has allowed me, as a Diamond, to use F lounges when I was flying TG/SQ/UA out of NRT.


1) ANA's award on other *A flights is more flexible than JAL's OW award; you can change the date of return, for example even on non-ANA flight.


JAL has let me change dates on award flights operated by oneworld partners. I have been under the impression that ANA noticed this and started allowing date changes on partner award flights only recently. ANA did not allow date changes on non-ANA flights before.

Another difference I would note is ANA has introduced high and low seasons for redemption tickets, while JAL has yet to do so.