Originally Posted by
southbeach82
I’m based out of YYZ and since JAL doesn’t fly from here, does anyone have experience transiting from the cities that JAL flies from? Which one would be a better option? YVR, ORD or JFK. I was thinking YVR since that would eliminate US customs but ORD or JFK is closer.
I preface all this with knowing AS doesn't allow multiple partners on an award, so you my likely need to purchase a positioning flight to the JL gateway.
It would depend on the time of year you planned to fly. I wouldn't be too keen on connecting at ORD or JFK during winter or summer afternoons, due to weather. From a price perspective, I would go with whatever is cheapest. One option you should consider is taking Porter to BOS, then flying JL BOS-NRT. ORD would work much better than JFK, because JFK is a mess IMO. Doing the pre-clearance into the US at YYZ or YTZ will be much easier than doing so at ORD, JFK, or BOS. I don't see that as much of an issue. I think price on YYZ-YVR will be the downside there.