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Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread (2020-2022)

Old Dec 30, 2019, 1:03 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Quail
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)

For 2021:
F awards are available again to book directly on AS website (no need to book J then try to change segment) as of June 12, 2021.

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, SFO, SEA, 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....)


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Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread (2020-2022)

Old Dec 30, 2019, 12:58 pm
  #1  
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Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread (2020-2022)

A fresh start for this popular thread.

The earlier thread can be found here:

Definitive "Booking Japan Airlines (JL) Using AS Miles" Thread - 2019 and Earlier
dayone is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2019, 7:18 pm
  #2  
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 68
Yes, as long as you paid for J on that direction of travel, you can change cabins to the one you paid for without a change fee. No routing/other flight changes though.
award ticket booked
SFO-SAN in Y
SAN-NRT in J.

See first class available today for the 1st flight, and called to make the change.
The agent insisted to charge me $125 change fee.

How others happened to waive the fee?
rfclub is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2019, 7:58 pm
  #3  
 
Join Date: May 2017
Location: LAX
Programs: AS 75K, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 27
Inventory goes quickly or is fickle. Was looking for NRT-LAX in F for Jan 10-12, saw it show up, called in and it was gone already
dangerclose is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2019, 8:12 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Pacific Wonderland
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Originally Posted by rfclub
award ticket booked
SFO-SAN in Y
SAN-NRT in J.

See first class available today for the 1st flight, and called to make the change.
The agent insisted to charge me $125 change fee.

How others happened to waive the fee?
HUACA or ask for a supervisor. You've already paid for award First on the connecting AS flight with your partner Business award.
rustykettel is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2019, 8:31 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 5,826
Flights from MNL-HND are absolutely brutal. Usually only the 11:45pm flight is available for redemption, arriving HND at 4:50am. Ouch!
Sandeep1 is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2019, 5:35 pm
  #6  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: SFO, PVG
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, UA Plat, OZ Diamond, Hilton D, Marriott Plat
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by dangerclose
Inventory goes quickly or is fickle. Was looking for NRT-LAX in F for Jan 10-12, saw it show up, called in and it was gone already
Booked one F HND-SFO for Jan 12 ~one hour ago. I noticed that JL tends to release seats to AS early morning Japan time.
AzureCao is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2019, 5:43 pm
  #7  
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 5,826
Originally Posted by AzureCao
Booked one F HND-SFO for Jan 12 ~one hour ago. I noticed that JL tends to release seats to AS early morning Japan time.
Been looking like crazy for Feb F flights but I guess I'll have to wait on those.
Sandeep1 is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2019, 5:47 pm
  #8  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: SFO, PVG
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, UA Plat, OZ Diamond, Hilton D, Marriott Plat
Posts: 16
Originally Posted by Sandeep1
Been looking like crazy for Feb F flights but I guess I'll have to wait on those.
Closer to about 2 weeks away from departure gives better chance
Sandeep1 likes this.
AzureCao is offline  
Old Jan 11, 2020, 11:04 pm
  #9  
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I'm not sure if this is JL specific or if it applies to all AS awards, but is there any information about routing rules? There's nothing in the wiki about it

In particular I want to know how much backtracking is allowed domestically. And, does that change on a stopover vs connection? I'm based in SFO -- I know that I've seen SFO-ORD-TYO show up as an allowed routing. But could I do SFO-ORD (stopover) ORD-TYO? Or SFO-NYC (stop) NYC-TYO?

Basically I want to do a trip where Tokyo is the end of my award, but I don't want to "waste" the stopover, so I want to use it domestically.

Another option is to fly to NY at an earlier date, and then do NYC-SFO (long stopover) SFO-TYO. But then I'm paying for the first one-way.
VegasGambler is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2020, 1:03 am
  #10  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
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Posts: 2,178
Originally Posted by VegasGambler
I'm not sure if this is JL specific or if it applies to all AS awards, but is there any information about routing rules? There's nothing in the wiki about it

In particular I want to know how much backtracking is allowed domestically. And, does that change on a stopover vs connection? I'm based in SFO -- I know that I've seen SFO-ORD-TYO show up as an allowed routing. But could I do SFO-ORD (stopover) ORD-TYO? Or SFO-NYC (stop) NYC-TYO?

Basically I want to do a trip where Tokyo is the end of my award, but I don't want to "waste" the stopover, so I want to use it domestically.

Another option is to fly to NY at an earlier date, and then do NYC-SFO (long stopover) SFO-TYO. But then I'm paying for the first one-way.

it can be booked online. You can stop over at JFK

Last edited by freed0m; Jan 12, 2020 at 1:11 am
freed0m is online now  
Old Jan 12, 2020, 1:27 am
  #11  
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Oh nice. I was having trouble getting it to show up.

So are there rules about backtracking domestically? I guess not because that's about the biggest possible backtrack?
VegasGambler is offline  
Old Jan 12, 2020, 2:53 am
  #12  
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Originally Posted by VegasGambler
Oh nice. I was having trouble getting it to show up.

So are there rules about backtracking domestically? I guess not because that's about the biggest possible backtrack?
Not exactly, becauee they change based on carrier. You can book backtracks online with JL that wont work with CX, SFO-JFK(stop)-HKG wont work as a CX award.
Tokyoite and flyingislove like this.
eponymous_coward is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2020, 11:34 am
  #13  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 36
Does Alaska not get all of JL's premium availability (or gets premium seats later than economy?)

There are a few Business / First seats I'm looking at in Mid-December that show on AA, fall within the Alaska booking window, but the J/F seats don't show as available. In some cases, the flights don't load at all, in some cases, only the economy seats show.
dcphlyer is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2020, 12:27 pm
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
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Originally Posted by dcphlyer
Does Alaska not get all of JL's premium availability (or gets premium seats later than economy?)

There are a few Business / First seats I'm looking at in Mid-December that show on AA, fall within the Alaska booking window, but the J/F seats don't show as available. In some cases, the flights don't load at all, in some cases, only the economy seats show.
Your question does not have a simple answer. It is pretty much answered in the 2019 thread.

The simple answer is no, Alaska does not not get all of JL's premium availability. IOW, they do have access to it but they hide it sometimes and make it difficult or impossible to book. I am pretty sure you are searching for flights within the first 5-6 days of schedule open, right? This is where you will see issues like you desribe. Outside that limited window AS mostly has access to everything AA does with the caveat that schedule caching may temporarily block it.

Within the first 5 days of schedule open you can try using the calendar trick which sometimes show more options. For example, NYC-TYO on 12/9 shows only economy with a regular search. Using the calendar trick Business and First also show.
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Jan 17, 2020, 12:39 pm
  #15  
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
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Does JAL still open up last minute F awards? Looking at the next 2 weeks, pickings seem pretty scarce.
PVDtoDEL is offline  

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