Aug 4, 2015, 1:37 pm
Last edit by: Prospero
GUIDE to redeeming AA miles for Japan Air Lines awards:
For 2012-2015 posts, please see
ARCHIVE: AA Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (master thd)
For further information, see:
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on
- JL awards are now shown show and can be booked on aa.com
- AwardNexus (free to FlyerTalk members for basic searches) will also reveal, and (for a fee) alert, on JL award seats
- AA awards on JL must be MileSAAver (AAnytime awards are only available on AA marketed and AA operated flights)
- There are no onerous fuel or carrier-imposed surcharges using AAdvantage miles for awards using JL
- JL initially releases awards to AAvantage members 330 days out at 10:00 am JST time (18:00 PDT, 17:00 PST). Note, JL award inventory is released to members of other FFPs 360 day out and updates award and revenue seat award availability once daily ~09:30-12:00 Pacific time
- JL may release 0-2 F and 0-4 J award seats initially; until taken they remain available up to three months from release
- No further seats are likely to be released until shortly (~14 days) prior to scheduled departure - but the last F seat will be retained for sale, not released into award inventory
- No stopovers are allowed on AA awards. Connections may be as long as 23:59.
- Only JAL Mileage Bank members can waitlist awards
- All awards for domestic Japan will default to Economy (including international F or J award with domestic segments); these can often be upgraded at reasonable cost at the ticket counter in the Japan connecting airport
- If JL & QF are showing availability, but AA can't see it, try calling the Australia AA center as it may be a point-of-sale issue
For 2012-2015 posts, please see
ARCHIVE: AA Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (master thd)
For further information, see:
HELP DESK: MileSAAver / SAAver award questions, assistance
oneworld and Other Airline (Partner) Awards info, rules 2014 on
AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)
Jan 27, 2019, 6:52 pm
#811
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: New York
Programs: Marriott Gold, AA, United, Delta, Alaska
Posts: 144
JL releases seats at 10am JST daily, so you can just check around that time once/day. I don’t really use AwardNexus, but yes EF doesn’t show JL and CX availability.
Jan 28, 2019, 3:11 pm
#812
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: New York City
Programs: SPG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, DL Platinum
Posts: 96
Jan 29, 2019, 5:30 am
#813
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
You are not missing it. The AA agents are. The space is showing up even on AS now. AA should be able to book it. The agent you were dealing with just did not know the correct procedure to do it. You need to HUCA until you find an agent that can do it or ask for a supervisor to help.
Jan 29, 2019, 5:58 am
#814
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: New York City
Programs: SPG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, DL Platinum
Posts: 96
You are not missing it. The AA agents are. The space is showing up even on AS now. AA should be able to book it. The agent you were dealing with just did not know the correct procedure to do it. You need to HUCA until you find an agent that can do it or ask for a supervisor to help.
Both times I've experienced this, JL and QF website availability match, while AS and BA show nothing, and AA reps see nothing. Now that I see the availability on AS and BA, the AA rep should be able to book it. One other note though is that for this March 2nd NRT - JFK flight, both JL and QF are showing five seats but AS and BA both show only 1.
Editing to add: In both of the above situations, I called AA and reps were able to see JL availability for other flights/classes, but not the J class on NRT - JFK, so I don't believe it to be an issue of getting a rep who doesn't know how to search for JL award seats
Last edited by NYCroots; Jan 29, 2019 at 6:24 am
Jan 29, 2019, 7:05 am
#815
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 695
Thanks for tipping me off to this availability!
Both times I've experienced this, JL and QF website availability match, while AS and BA show nothing, and AA reps see nothing. Now that I see the availability on AS and BA, the AA rep should be able to book it. One other note though is that for this March 2nd NRT - JFK flight, both JL and QF are showing five seats but AS and BA both show only 1.
Editing to add: In both of the above situations, I called AA and reps were able to see JL availability for other flights/classes, but not the J class on NRT - JFK, so I don't believe it to be an issue of getting a rep who doesn't know how to search for JL award seats
Both times I've experienced this, JL and QF website availability match, while AS and BA show nothing, and AA reps see nothing. Now that I see the availability on AS and BA, the AA rep should be able to book it. One other note though is that for this March 2nd NRT - JFK flight, both JL and QF are showing five seats but AS and BA both show only 1.
Editing to add: In both of the above situations, I called AA and reps were able to see JL availability for other flights/classes, but not the J class on NRT - JFK, so I don't believe it to be an issue of getting a rep who doesn't know how to search for JL award seats
Jan 29, 2019, 7:58 am
#816
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Thanks for tipping me off to this availability!
Both times I've experienced this, JL and QF website availability match, while AS and BA show nothing, and AA reps see nothing. Now that I see the availability on AS and BA, the AA rep should be able to book it. One other note though is that for this March 2nd NRT - JFK flight, both JL and QF are showing five seats but AS and BA both show only 1.
Editing to add: In both of the above situations, I called AA and reps were able to see JL availability for other flights/classes, but not the J class on NRT - JFK, so I don't believe it to be an issue of getting a rep who doesn't know how to search for JL award seats
Both times I've experienced this, JL and QF website availability match, while AS and BA show nothing, and AA reps see nothing. Now that I see the availability on AS and BA, the AA rep should be able to book it. One other note though is that for this March 2nd NRT - JFK flight, both JL and QF are showing five seats but AS and BA both show only 1.
Editing to add: In both of the above situations, I called AA and reps were able to see JL availability for other flights/classes, but not the J class on NRT - JFK, so I don't believe it to be an issue of getting a rep who doesn't know how to search for JL award seats
Excellent suggestion. This may work if indeed the difference in availability is based on the point of sale.
Jan 29, 2019, 11:14 am
#817
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: New York City
Programs: SPG Plat, Hyatt Globalist, DL Platinum
Posts: 96
Huge thanks to both ukinny2000 and skimthetrees, as calling up the Australia call center worked!
As I'm trying to my friend and I from Singapore to NYC, JL only releasing this NRT - JFK availability did prove to be somewhat of a challenge. The AUS AA rep confirmed space for 2 on the NRT - JFK flight, but then couldn't find any from SIN - TYO in either J or Y (which I expected, as I hadn't seen any availability online on any website). However, I could tell from the QF website that the entire SIN - NRT - JFK itinerary was available in Y, so I asked the rep to hold that, replace the NRT - JFK Y segment with the available J segment, and then ticket. Current status is 'on request', so hopefully this wraps up and then I can just worry about getting the SIN - NRT segment upgraded to J, but my trip won't be ruined if it doesn't work out that way.
As I'm trying to my friend and I from Singapore to NYC, JL only releasing this NRT - JFK availability did prove to be somewhat of a challenge. The AUS AA rep confirmed space for 2 on the NRT - JFK flight, but then couldn't find any from SIN - TYO in either J or Y (which I expected, as I hadn't seen any availability online on any website). However, I could tell from the QF website that the entire SIN - NRT - JFK itinerary was available in Y, so I asked the rep to hold that, replace the NRT - JFK Y segment with the available J segment, and then ticket. Current status is 'on request', so hopefully this wraps up and then I can just worry about getting the SIN - NRT segment upgraded to J, but my trip won't be ruined if it doesn't work out that way.
Jan 29, 2019, 11:58 am
#818
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 695
Huge thanks to both ukinny2000 and skimthetrees, as calling up the Australia call center worked!
As I'm trying to my friend and I from Singapore to NYC, JL only releasing this NRT - JFK availability did prove to be somewhat of a challenge. The AUS AA rep confirmed space for 2 on the NRT - JFK flight, but then couldn't find any from SIN - TYO in either J or Y (which I expected, as I hadn't seen any availability online on any website). However, I could tell from the QF website that the entire SIN - NRT - JFK itinerary was available in Y, so I asked the rep to hold that, replace the NRT - JFK Y segment with the available J segment, and then ticket. Current status is 'on request', so hopefully this wraps up and then I can just worry about getting the SIN - NRT segment upgraded to J, but my trip won't be ruined if it doesn't work out that way.
As I'm trying to my friend and I from Singapore to NYC, JL only releasing this NRT - JFK availability did prove to be somewhat of a challenge. The AUS AA rep confirmed space for 2 on the NRT - JFK flight, but then couldn't find any from SIN - TYO in either J or Y (which I expected, as I hadn't seen any availability online on any website). However, I could tell from the QF website that the entire SIN - NRT - JFK itinerary was available in Y, so I asked the rep to hold that, replace the NRT - JFK Y segment with the available J segment, and then ticket. Current status is 'on request', so hopefully this wraps up and then I can just worry about getting the SIN - NRT segment upgraded to J, but my trip won't be ruined if it doesn't work out that way.
Glad it worked out. I added a quick entry into the Wiki to reflect this situation
Jan 30, 2019, 6:03 pm
#819
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Los Angeles
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 637
Hoping someone can help me out. Is this a valid one way award? HKG-NRT-SYD all on JL. Thanks!
Jan 30, 2019, 8:05 pm
#820
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,481
Feb 5, 2019, 1:10 pm
#822
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 60
Hi there!
Hope someone can help with this...
I am trying to book 3 biz awards on JAL for SFO-HND-SIN.
3 biz awards SFO-HND are confirmed.
3 biz awards HND-SIN showing available on QF, BA, and JAL websites.
But when I try to add it to my existing long haul (SFO-HND) booking, only 2 biz awards are available. HOWEVER, if all 3 biz awards (HND-SIN) are available if booked as a stand alone award reservation. Did the award availability drop due to the married segment with the long haul flight?
I called the Australia AA number, they are seeing the same thing. Not sure what can be done.
Any insights are greatly appreciated!
Hope someone can help with this...
I am trying to book 3 biz awards on JAL for SFO-HND-SIN.
3 biz awards SFO-HND are confirmed.
3 biz awards HND-SIN showing available on QF, BA, and JAL websites.
But when I try to add it to my existing long haul (SFO-HND) booking, only 2 biz awards are available. HOWEVER, if all 3 biz awards (HND-SIN) are available if booked as a stand alone award reservation. Did the award availability drop due to the married segment with the long haul flight?
I called the Australia AA number, they are seeing the same thing. Not sure what can be done.
Any insights are greatly appreciated!
Feb 5, 2019, 4:03 pm
#823
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Hi there!
Hope someone can help with this...
I am trying to book 3 biz awards on JAL for SFO-HND-SIN.
3 biz awards SFO-HND are confirmed.
3 biz awards HND-SIN showing available on QF, BA, and JAL websites.
But when I try to add it to my existing long haul (SFO-HND) booking, only 2 biz awards are available. HOWEVER, if all 3 biz awards (HND-SIN) are available if booked as a stand alone award reservation. Did the award availability drop due to the married segment with the long haul flight?
I called the Australia AA number, they are seeing the same thing. Not sure what can be done.
Any insights are greatly appreciated!
Hope someone can help with this...
I am trying to book 3 biz awards on JAL for SFO-HND-SIN.
3 biz awards SFO-HND are confirmed.
3 biz awards HND-SIN showing available on QF, BA, and JAL websites.
But when I try to add it to my existing long haul (SFO-HND) booking, only 2 biz awards are available. HOWEVER, if all 3 biz awards (HND-SIN) are available if booked as a stand alone award reservation. Did the award availability drop due to the married segment with the long haul flight?
I called the Australia AA number, they are seeing the same thing. Not sure what can be done.
Any insights are greatly appreciated!
Feb 5, 2019, 4:50 pm
#824
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 60
Thanks for the suggestion. If I do that, the 3rd will end up sitting in a separate cabin if the 3rd biz seat doesn't open up. We prefer to be seated together. I can book the 3rd seat as a separate award, but that's like throwing away miles. I am not mile-rich enough to do that. LOL!
Feb 5, 2019, 8:17 pm
#825
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Thanks for the suggestion. If I do that, the 3rd will end up sitting in a separate cabin if the 3rd biz seat doesn't open up. We prefer to be seated together. I can book the 3rd seat as a separate award, but that's like throwing away miles. I am not mile-rich enough to do that. LOL!