Originally Posted by
AtomicLush
Wow, that's a really good deal. I guess most of us on the board originate from the US. So unless we do the bulk of the flying to/from Japan, it's hard to accumulate enough EQM's for status (even with bonus credit card points) on JAL alone. I know my husband flies a lot to Asia (but not exclusively to Japan) and also to Europe from the US.
The problem is, yes the redemption rates are quite good, it's not as easy to accrue quickly, earning rates for JL & OW flights are poor for anything less than full fare (even JL metal I fare is only 70%). Even the credit cards offered have very meager sign up bonuses, I think the best one I found was 9,000 miles though occasional promos may be a bit more, we just don't get those 50k sign up bonuses that happen in the US market. There's one card though that has 2x points for overseas spending which for my own pattern would yield quite a few miles. I think for the average person AA and BA probably offer better earning rates and at that point it may be a wash for redemption at the marginally higher levels of those programs, for people flying non-discount Y or C then I can see where JL MB would be nice.