Originally Posted by sickmint79

hi all, q on my itinerary. i could have booked all JAL metal, but booked mixed JAL/AA, with the hope i could upgrade on AA.

my itinerary is BKK-HND (jal) HND-LAX (aa), and the reverse LAX-HND (aa), HND-BKK (jal). purchase was on aa.com. right now my understanding is that my only lounge access would be in the sakura lounge in BKK when flying BKK-HND, and on the reverse in HND when flying back. is this correct, and the AA leg HND-LAX won't get me access?

it appears the AA biz seats are typically all sold for business between HND-LAX, and that i'm quite unlikely to get upgraded.

aa has the 787-8 with 38 seat pitch 18.5 seat width per seatguru.
jal 777 has 42 pitch 19 width through if i go through DFW.
looks like i could switch to all jal flights for 75-150 of change fee.

should i make the change for additional lounge access in HND on the way out? apparently a LAX lounge too? (i'll note i do have access to amex centurion and a priority pass though too) and nicer seats? food/service worth it? open to the wisdom of flyertalk on if this would be a good move.