Originally Posted by
guv1976
OK. As you may know, a one-way Business Class partner award from North America to Japan costs exactly 60,000 AA miles. That rate applies whether you're on a JL nonstop, or you fly AA or AS to an intermediate point (like the West Coast) to connect to JL. If you were to book a connection and the JL nonstop opened up shortly before departure, you could hold the JL nonstop, call AA to cancel and refund the original award, and then use the refunded miles to purchase the nonstop award.
FYI, even though it is more miles and $ in fees, I decided to go for the flight from LAX - HND on April 12, 2026! AA wasn't available at all (even in February - March 2026), and there was more availability for BA. The price was 77250 Avios + $232.80 taxes/fees - I transferred 77,300 miles from my Capital One account to BA to pay for the flight. JAL was charging a cash price of $3324.80 - I have paid roughly $4,000 cash round-trip for business-class flights (to London in 2023 and Amsterdam last year), but nearly $7,000 round-trip is a bit steep even for my pockets. I am getting 4 cents/point for the redemption, which is outstanding!
I will need to pay for a flight separately from ORD - LAX, and will probably stay near the airport on Saturday evening. I figure around $200/night for the hotel (possibly less w/IHG & Hilton points), and $300-$400 for a flight. Even so, I am still getting over 3 cents/point ([$3324.80 - 232.80 taxes/fees - $600 in flights/hotels to LAX]/77250) from redeeming my miles. Finally, I get to experience the Chase Sapphire Lounge in LAX for the first time, as well as the brand-new A350-1000, which is going to begin service on JL15 (LAX - HND) on June 30, 2025!
I will book a little bit later for my return flight, as I plan on leaving Japan after 2.5 weeks there, and the award flights aren't bookable yet. Even so, I am glad I got this first award booking out of the way, and am happy to use my credit card points!