How's availability for ANA redemption on J...?
May 30, 2018, 7:41 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 248
How's availability for ANA redemption on J...?
Hi All,
Thanks to many of you, I was able to finally fly my first J seat with pts (EVA). We just came back from our Asia trip a few days ago (booked 2 J seats for EVA using Aeroplan miles due to favorable lap child fees). I started asking questions on FT forum a year ago when I first joined the miles/points hobby! Because of your feedbacks, I was able to fly J instead of Y! There's no going back now (especially on long hauls)!!
Here I am again looking for your feedbacks. We are looking at flying to Japan in J (3 seats this time as our child will be over 2 by then) in March/April/or May 2020 (JFK to Japan) ! Currently we have 1/2 of the required pts for 3 J seats (Amex & SPG pts) and started looking at ANA's website. I hear ANA releases J seats about 355 days in advance, but while searching at their website for April/May of 2019 (testing for awards availbility), I don't see any availbilities for 2 or 3 seats. Anyone knows how good is ANA J availbilities? Any advise on when to start searching/booking? Should we book 2 seats first and remaining one one, two, three, etc. weeks later? What about ANA's refund policy on seats booked with pts (in event we can't booked the 3 seat)? Or any advise we should look at another airline to fly to Japan? Thanks again for your valuable feedbacks!!
Thanks to many of you, I was able to finally fly my first J seat with pts (EVA). We just came back from our Asia trip a few days ago (booked 2 J seats for EVA using Aeroplan miles due to favorable lap child fees). I started asking questions on FT forum a year ago when I first joined the miles/points hobby! Because of your feedbacks, I was able to fly J instead of Y! There's no going back now (especially on long hauls)!!
Here I am again looking for your feedbacks. We are looking at flying to Japan in J (3 seats this time as our child will be over 2 by then) in March/April/or May 2020 (JFK to Japan) ! Currently we have 1/2 of the required pts for 3 J seats (Amex & SPG pts) and started looking at ANA's website. I hear ANA releases J seats about 355 days in advance, but while searching at their website for April/May of 2019 (testing for awards availbility), I don't see any availbilities for 2 or 3 seats. Anyone knows how good is ANA J availbilities? Any advise on when to start searching/booking? Should we book 2 seats first and remaining one one, two, three, etc. weeks later? What about ANA's refund policy on seats booked with pts (in event we can't booked the 3 seat)? Or any advise we should look at another airline to fly to Japan? Thanks again for your valuable feedbacks!!
Last edited by TIGRIS23; May 30, 2018 at 9:23 am
May 30, 2018, 12:29 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: NYC
Posts: 427
Someone more knowledgeable pls correct me if I'm wrong, but from my own award booking experience, ANA only releases 2 award J seats on the JFK->HND/NRT routes. They are notoriously hard to book I think. Last time I booked 2 J seats for my husband and me, I had to grab them within 10 minutes of the exact release time (something like 9am Tokyo time 355 days out).
May 30, 2018, 9:46 pm
#3
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Japan
Programs: NH Diamond, JL JGC Diamond, BA Gold Guest List(Gold for life), CX Diamond
Posts: 1,580
See my post in another thread.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29723978-post6.html
According to above investigation,
for JFK routes, only 2 J seats for a general AMC member. extra 2 J seats for elite members.
As jbeans said, you should book 2 J seats 9:０0AM JST in 355 advance. At that time, you have to book the same day return itinerary because only round trip award is permitted.
Then, you have to change your return date when that flight becomes bookable.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29723978-post6.html
Unfortunately in Japanese, there is a blog page that researches the number of available award seats for all international routes.
See
https://www.uridayo.com/entry/award-avaialblity
See
https://www.uridayo.com/entry/award-avaialblity
for JFK routes, only 2 J seats for a general AMC member. extra 2 J seats for elite members.
As jbeans said, you should book 2 J seats 9:０0AM JST in 355 advance. At that time, you have to book the same day return itinerary because only round trip award is permitted.
Then, you have to change your return date when that flight becomes bookable.
Last edited by Wasabi Tofu; May 30, 2018 at 9:53 pm
May 31, 2018, 12:42 pm
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 248
See my post in another thread.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29723978-post6.html
According to above investigation,
for JFK routes, only 2 J seats for a general AMC member. extra 2 J seats for elite members.
As jbeans said, you should book 2 J seats 9:０0AM JST in 355 advance. At that time, you have to book the same day return itinerary because only round trip award is permitted.
Then, you have to change your return date when that flight becomes bookable.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29723978-post6.html
According to above investigation,
for JFK routes, only 2 J seats for a general AMC member. extra 2 J seats for elite members.
As jbeans said, you should book 2 J seats 9:０0AM JST in 355 advance. At that time, you have to book the same day return itinerary because only round trip award is permitted.
Then, you have to change your return date when that flight becomes bookable.
May 31, 2018, 12:50 pm
#7
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 248
Yes. Only reason I ask now is to plan what points to earn (eg. Amex or Chase) and which airlines to go with as I know most good airlines requires booking about a year out for award spaces--especially in J. And since I'm new, I'm still accruing points. With this knowledge now, it may be impossible for me to book 3 J or 2J 1F seats w/ANA (2 adults, 1 child). So I may have to think of another plan going JFK to NRT/HND in J. Any other airline suggestions with better J availabilities anyone? Thanks!
May 31, 2018, 1:47 pm
#8
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: NYC
Posts: 427
Yes. Only reason I ask now is to plan what points to earn (eg. Amex or Chase) and which airlines to go with as I know most good airlines requires booking about a year out for award spaces--especially in J. And since I'm new, I'm still accruing points. With this knowledge now, it may be impossible for me to book 3 J or 2J 1F seats w/ANA (2 adults, 1 child). So I may have to think of another plan going JFK to NRT/HND in J. Any other airline suggestions with better J availabilities anyone? Thanks!
Jun 3, 2018, 11:38 am
#9
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Truth or Consequences, NM
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, UA Silver, Mobile Passport Unobtanium
Posts: 6,192
Where did all the award seats go...?
https://thepointsguy.com/2018/02/kor...-availability/
Jun 3, 2018, 2:40 pm
#10
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 29
Based on my experience trying to book two J award tickets out of SJC, availability is poor - (waitlisted even when I looked into it 6 months out, actually decided to book 3 months out). You have to watch open seats and availability and possibly shift your dates around as seats open up. Vancouver seems to frequently have award seating available, as does Houston and Chicago- might be worth flying to one of those airports, then catching your J award seats outbound.