I'm redeeming JAL award flights for Emirates travel, and noticed all blogs mention that surface sectors need to be included in total trip distance calculations, e.g. DXB-LHR then CDG-DXB would require adding LHR-CDG to the total mileage, even if it was completed via land or other means.
However, upon closer reading of the current rules on the JAL award rules site, it actually says:
The distance of any surface sector is not included in total trip distance* (miles).
Link: jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/partner_air/p_jmb/conditions.html (sorry I can't post this as an actual link because it's my first post)
Whereas, according to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, the recorded archived page on Oct 22, 2017 last year says:
The distance of the surface sector is included in the total distance (*1) of the award itinerary.
Link: web.archive.org/web/20171022103930/www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/partner_air/p_jmb/conditions.html (sorry I can't post this as an actual link because it's my first post)
Did the rules change, or am I missing something? If my assumption is correct, surface sectors no longer need to be added to JAL partner awards? This could be a huge rule change that hasn't been noted by bloggers yet, as it allows longer open jaws while staying under the same total flight mileage.
(P.S.: This is my first post on Flyertalk! I've been redeeming award flights for years and will finally start contributing to Flyertalk more. It's helped me so much over the years!)