Dec 6, 2016, 7:53 pm
Last edit by: DoubleWidesFly
Wiki for using AS (Alaska) miles on JL (Japan Airlines)
All awards for domestic Japan will default to Economy (including international F or J award with domestic segments)
However, these can often be upgraded at reasonable cost at the ticket counter in the Japan connecting airport
Award Chart If not listed it's not available - EXCEPTION: Hawaii-Asia awards are bookable, not yet on the chart, at the same prices as Continental U.S.-Asia
(as of March 2017, Premium Economy is no longer available)
(As of October 2019, stopovers are no longer allowed on intra Asia awards)
Class of Service One-way Round-trip
U.S./Canada to Asia
Coach 35,000 70,000
Premium 40,000 80,000
Business 60,000 120,000
First 70,000 140,000
U.S./Canada to Southeast Asia
Coach 40,000 80,000
Premium 45,000 90,000
Business 65,000 130,000
First 75,000 150,000
Intra Asia
Coach 15,000 30,000
Premium 17,500 35,000
Business 25,000 50,000
First 30,000 60,000
International gateways
All AS valid destinations from Tokyo (HND/NRT), Osaka (KIX) or Nagoya (NGO).
PUS, GMP, ICN, DLC, PVG, SHA, PEK, TSA, TPE, KHH, CAN, HKG, MNL, HAN, SGN, BKK, SIN, KUL, CGK, DEL, HNL, KOA, YVR, SEA, SFO, LAX, SAN, ORD, DFW, BOS, JFK
USA
Boston - BOS
Chicago - ORD
Dallas - DFW
Honolulu - HNL
Kona -KOA
Los Angeles - LAX
New York - JFK
San Diego - SAN
San Francisco - SFO
Seattle - SEA
Canada
Vancouver - YVR
Asia
Delhi - DEL
Tokyo - HND & NRT
Osaka - KIX
Nagoya - NGO
Busan - PUS
Seoul - Gimpo GMP
Seoul - Incheon ICN
Southeast Asia or listed as SE based on how awards are pricing
Bangkok - BKK
Beijing - PEK
Dalian - DLC
Guangzhou - CAN
Hanoi - HAN
Ho Chi Minh City - SGN
Hong Kong - HKG
Jakarta - CGK
Kaohsiung - KHH
Kuala Lumpur - KUL
Manila - MNL
Shanghai - Hongqiao - SHA
Shanghai - Pudong - PVG
Singapore - SIN
Taipei - TPE
Taipei - Songshan - TSA
Tianjin - TSN (only from Nagoya, not very useful....)
All awards for domestic Japan will default to Economy (including international F or J award with domestic segments)
However, these can often be upgraded at reasonable cost at the ticket counter in the Japan connecting airport
Award Chart If not listed it's not available - EXCEPTION: Hawaii-Asia awards are bookable, not yet on the chart, at the same prices as Continental U.S.-Asia
(as of March 2017, Premium Economy is no longer available)
(As of October 2019, stopovers are no longer allowed on intra Asia awards)
Class of Service One-way Round-trip
U.S./Canada to Asia
Coach 35,000 70,000
Business 60,000 120,000
First 70,000 140,000
U.S./Canada to Southeast Asia
Coach 40,000 80,000
Business 65,000 130,000
First 75,000 150,000
Intra Asia
Coach 15,000 30,000
Business 25,000 50,000
First 30,000 60,000
International gateways
All AS valid destinations from Tokyo (HND/NRT), Osaka (KIX) or Nagoya (NGO).
PUS, GMP, ICN, DLC, PVG, SHA, PEK, TSA, TPE, KHH, CAN, HKG, MNL, HAN, SGN, BKK, SIN, KUL, CGK, DEL, HNL, KOA, YVR, SEA, SFO, LAX, SAN, ORD, DFW, BOS, JFK
USA
Boston - BOS
Chicago - ORD
Dallas - DFW
Honolulu - HNL
Kona -KOA
Los Angeles - LAX
New York - JFK
San Diego - SAN
San Francisco - SFO
Seattle - SEA
Canada
Vancouver - YVR
Asia
Delhi - DEL
Tokyo - HND & NRT
Osaka - KIX
Nagoya - NGO
Busan - PUS
Seoul - Gimpo GMP
Seoul - Incheon ICN
Southeast Asia or listed as SE based on how awards are pricing
Bangkok - BKK
Beijing - PEK
Dalian - DLC
Guangzhou - CAN
Hanoi - HAN
Ho Chi Minh City - SGN
Hong Kong - HKG
Jakarta - CGK
Kaohsiung - KHH
Kuala Lumpur - KUL
Manila - MNL
Shanghai - Hongqiao - SHA
Shanghai - Pudong - PVG
Singapore - SIN
Taipei - TPE
Taipei - Songshan - TSA
Tianjin - TSN (only from Nagoya, not very useful....)
Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread - 2019 and Earlier
Jan 17, 2019, 7:24 pm
#601
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
my first try at booking JL F with AS miles .... AS calendar seems to be one day behind JL award release calendar. But even then, the space seen by AS is seriously off compared to what BA and JL searches show (calling doesn't help, the agents seem to see exactly what AS search engine sees). AS sees NOTHING when there's 2 J seats available.
I've booked JL F and CX F with AA miles, and CX F with AS miles, they always saw what BA and JL search sees. Never had this kind of availability difference before.
Do others have similar experience?
I've booked JL F and CX F with AA miles, and CX F with AS miles, they always saw what BA and JL search sees. Never had this kind of availability difference before.
Do others have similar experience?
I booked a JL J/F yesterday HKG-HND-JFK with onward travel to Mexico after a 2 month stopover. I will be on those flights starting next week.
James
Jan 17, 2019, 9:03 pm
#602
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
my first try at booking JL F with AS miles .... AS calendar seems to be one day behind JL award release calendar. But even then, the space seen by AS is seriously off compared to what BA and JL searches show (calling doesn't help, the agents seem to see exactly what AS search engine sees). AS sees NOTHING when there's 2 J seats available.
I've booked JL F and CX F with AA miles, and CX F with AS miles, they always saw what BA and JL search sees. Never had this kind of availability difference before.
Do others have similar experience?
I've booked JL F and CX F with AA miles, and CX F with AS miles, they always saw what BA and JL search sees. Never had this kind of availability difference before.
Do others have similar experience?
Potential workaround is to hold space with another program (AA, BA) and cancel the next day to return the seats to inventory where you can pick them up once they are in the AS JL J window. AS did not have a full 24 hour J block. It was maybe 23 1/2 or less hour block on JL J when I ran into it.
Jan 18, 2019, 7:06 pm
#603
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
Potential workaround is to hold space with another program (AA, BA) and cancel the next day to return the seats to inventory where you can pick them up once they are in the AS JL J window. AS did not have a full 24 hour J block. It was maybe 23 1/2 or less hour block on JL J when I ran into it.
Jan 19, 2019, 6:29 am
#604
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
The availability the phone agents see appear to be the exact same as the AS website. I compared JL availability using BA search to AS search. The business class availability seems to match, but AS has a four day lag time. F class availability seems to be hit or miss.
Jan 19, 2019, 3:40 pm
#605
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: New York
Programs: Marriott Gold, AA, United, Delta, Alaska
Posts: 144
I’ve had times where the AS phone agent would see availability (and matches the AS website) but wouldn’t be able to grab the seat. I checked BA while on the phone, and the seats weren’t available on BA. So it’s best to verify on BA/QF before booking.
Jan 19, 2019, 3:52 pm
#606
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
I do not know if it will affect you but AS does cache some JL availability. This may mean that when you cancel your AA booked awards that inventory will be returned to partners but AS may not show it until their next inventory cache update, possibly a few hours later, so you may have to check regularly for a while after canceling the awards.
Jan 19, 2019, 6:19 pm
#607
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
I do not know if it will affect you but AS does cache some JL availability. This may mean that when you cancel your AA booked awards that inventory will be returned to partners but AS may not show it until their next inventory cache update, possibly a few hours later, so you may have to check regularly for a while after canceling the awards.
Jan 23, 2019, 7:27 am
#608
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
They probably update their cache when you make the change through them. I've seen this too (cancelling an award and having it immediately return to inventory).
Then they probably have some batch job that runs every once in a while, downloads the current data, and overwrites their cache.
Then they probably have some batch job that runs every once in a while, downloads the current data, and overwrites their cache.
It's just an "obvious" way to implement it, and it matches my observations. But it might be totally wrong.
Jan 23, 2019, 5:17 pm
#610
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
So there is something definitely sketchy going on and its not just on AS side. Like clockwork at 330 days out, 8pm ET, 2 J and 2 F award seats are released. Having watched ORD-NRT like a hawk the last two weeks, I noticed that 48-72 hours later, the 2 F seats would disappear. I assumed that was due to increased demand due to lack of CX F awards in 2019.
But AS was not seeing any JL seats until four days later. So I waited until 329 days out (so as to book the asia connection) and held 2 F awards on AA for five days. I then canceled the award on day five, ORD-NRT did not go back into award inventory BUT the asia connection flight did.
I was shocked, and then checked google flights, to my surprise, nearly all the dates had 8 F seats for sale but none of them had any F award seats anymore even though they initially had 2 released at 330 days, 8pm ET.
Conclusion: JL releases 2 F seats, then 48-72 hours later, takes them back if no one grabs them.
But AS was not seeing any JL seats until four days later. So I waited until 329 days out (so as to book the asia connection) and held 2 F awards on AA for five days. I then canceled the award on day five, ORD-NRT did not go back into award inventory BUT the asia connection flight did.
I was shocked, and then checked google flights, to my surprise, nearly all the dates had 8 F seats for sale but none of them had any F award seats anymore even though they initially had 2 released at 330 days, 8pm ET.
Conclusion: JL releases 2 F seats, then 48-72 hours later, takes them back if no one grabs them.
Jan 23, 2019, 5:20 pm
#611
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
Programs: ʙᴏɴᴠo̱ʏ Au, IHG Au, HH Dia, Nexus, Pilot FlyingJ Preferred
Posts: 5,336
Very interesting.
Jan 23, 2019, 10:15 pm
#612
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
I have not tracked this for a few months but I did see a pattern a few months ago where JL would take back unclaimed F availability on certain days of the week, I guess most days of the week, but there were a couple of days midweek where they would not take the F availability back (Tues, Wednesday, maybe?) even if not claimed. Are you seeing any days mid-week with 8F and F awards available?
Jan 23, 2019, 10:29 pm
#613
Join Date: Nov 2013
Programs: NZ
Posts: 1,548
I have not tracked this for a few months but I did see a pattern a few months ago where JL would take back unclaimed F availability on certain days of the week, I guess most days of the week, but there were a couple of days midweek where they would not take the F availability back (Tues, Wednesday, maybe?) even if not claimed. Are you seeing any days mid-week with 8F and F awards available?
Jan 24, 2019, 12:17 am
#614
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Flying HKG-HNDZJFK J/F today.
James
Jan 24, 2019, 9:29 am
#615
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,894
The problem of JL taking back awards that no one claims was not a problem back in 2015-2016 when I booked them using AA miles prior to the AA devaluation, because I booked all of them right when they were released and AA saw all the seats that BA saw.
But with AS not seeing JL seats for about four days after they are released, and JL grabbing them back after 48-72 hrs, that is a real problem
But with AS not seeing JL seats for about four days after they are released, and JL grabbing them back after 48-72 hrs, that is a real problem