Recently my wife and I were on our way to Tokyo. We had award tix on JL from LAX to NRT, however we flew into LAX on paid tix from AUS, arriving around 7:30 AM, and our JL flight wasn't until 1:30 PM.
We had not been able to check-in for the JL flight prior, so we wandered over to TBIT to try to figure out how we could do this without having to go landside again. Stopped by the OW Business Lounge and asked if there was anywhere where we could talk to a JL rep to check-in.
The attendant was awesome. We showed them our flights on our AA phone apps, she wrote down the info, and said that the JL rep wouldn't be available until closer to departure. She noted that we were EXP, so she said we had access to the QF First Lounge. We said yes, we were aware, but didn't think we would be granted access without our actual BPs. She said, no worries, called their front desk and sent us on our way there.
Upon arriving (1 minute later
), the gentleman was ready for us. Just asked to see our original inbound tickets for some info, did some typing, and let us in. About 2 hours later a JL rep showed up at the lounge, checked us in, and that was that. Very nice surprise all the way around!