My AA account has all my family as “saved travelers”, and I added another person who happens to have the same name as myself and my AS loyalty number. For some “weird reason” that person is never my companion, I.e., he always travel without me (so it’s not really a companion… I think of him as my alter ego)

Sadly that doesn’t seem to work for AS - when booking an AS award they seem to only allow AS MileagePlan numbers for the travelers in the booking screen.

I think I get what you are saying. In my case, I booked a American Airlines reward flight in the American Airlines website. I now will need to call into American Airlines to get the FF# changed for my ticket to the Alaska Air. I think what you are suggesting is I create a companion in my American Airlines profile but use my Alaska FF# for the attached program. So if I book a reward flight via American I choose that "alter ego". I think all this does is remove the step to call American to change the FF#.

Right. It doesn’t help you for this trip since you can’t change the traveler on the existing reservation, but in the future that is how I would do it.

Took SNA-SEA and SEA-SNA, both on 737-800, this past week. The flight out of SNA sat on the tarmac after boarding for an hour because of "fuel pump repairs." The flight out of SEA was on-time and smooth siling

First timer poster here, super newbie to the world of award flights. Wanted to ask for some advice/suggestions:

Planning on doing a Japan trip (TYO) beginning of April, want to get all my flights via awards. (LAX as home airport.) No status whatsoever, just miles, and I'm perfectly okay with economy seats (just looking for transport, not comfort tbh). A preliminary search is showing some pretty pricy redemptions (~65k via Starlux, one way, in economy with a TPE layover). I read on some articles and travel blogs that JL tends to release good last-minute redemptions (like 14 days or so before departure). I'm definitely willing to wait until closer to departure date to book, but just wanted to get advice from more experienced folks to see if waiting it out would change anything or if I should just book now (or look into low-cost airlines like ZipAir). Thanks!

@winterpolaris Welcome to FlyerTalk.

You could see if it is true for flights in the next 10-14 days that JL releases last minute seats. I have no experience with JL and hopefully someone else can confirm or deny what you read elsewhere. If you have enough miles, you could book a more expensive award now and then wait for a cheaper JL award to materialize closer to departure. Awards can be refunded for free (you lose the partner booking fee if you cancel, but that�s peanuts. Perhaps it�s possible to change instead).

Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread (2023)

I don't think a 2024 thread has been created yet, but there's some good advice here. I've been able to upgrade myself from Y to F at T-14, although that was a few years ago. April might be tough depending on sakura season.

We did April 2023 SEA-TYO. I had booked r/t in Y well in advance (11 months). Some space did open up last minute, but very little. So the close-in strategy works with JL, it's not a sure thing during Sakura. Given the exceptionally high demand for Japan since the reopening, don't book any lodging that's non-refundable. For some reason, the most likely places to have space will be LAX and SFO. If space opens up from SFO, AS probably won't open up T space LAX-SFO. So as long as one is willing to pay for a positioning flight, the odds of finding something will be increased but still not a sure thing.

Hello all - please redirect me if I'm in the wrong place. I'm in the UK and not too familiar with AS practices. I have an LAX-HNL-LAX flight booked (F) for early February, which I booked using credits. (1) If the flight in either direction is cancelled, will AS reroute me on another carrier? or (2) will I be able to ask for a cash refund? Being in the UK, I don't have many opportunities to use AS credits so would prefer the cash refund. BTW I also have refundable flights booked with AA in case of cancellation. Thanks for any advice....

They will accommodate you on another flight, sometimes rerouting. If they get desperate, and I emphasize desperate, they will place you on a flight with another airline. If you require a refund, it will never be in cash for an award ticket. They'll refund the miles to your account and the fees to the original form of payment (e.g., credit card).

After March, will Alaska allow flight redemptions on JL between Japan and Europe?

thanks!

Do they still sell day passes for the AS Lounges (which still sell day passes) at LAX and SFO at 50% off to AS Visa cardholders?

Thanks WillTravel4Food, I appreciate the input. David.

They are selling them at SFO/LAX as space is available (so maybe not depending on your flight timing), but I don't believe the AS Visa still gets 50% off day passes, but rather gets 20% back on AS purchases, or $100 off a lounge membership.