Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > American Airlines | AAdvantage
Reload this Page >

AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)

Register
Community
Wiki Posts
Today's Posts
Search
Old Aug 4, 2015, 1:37 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: Prospero
GUIDE to redeeming AA miles for Japan Air Lines awards:
  • 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
Print Wikipost

AAdvantage Award on JL / JAL / Japan Airlines (2016-2023)

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Aug 29, 2019, 5:39 am
  #1276  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,483
Originally Posted by bmchris
I am currently holding an award ticket from DFW-NRT-NGO in economy. If DFW-NRT in Business award availability becomes available for just DFW-NRT before my flight, can I upgrade just that segment? Or does availability need to be available as a married segment DFW-NRT-NGO at the time? My concern is that the specific flight I want to take for NRT-NGO would not be available at that time (it is just before the Japanese F1 Grand Prix near Nagoya). Thanks!
If DFW-NRT opens up in business then you can call and switch just that flight, you don't need the whole itinerary as AA's married segment madness wouldn't come into play when one segment is AA and the other is a partner segment.
JJeffrey is offline  
Old Aug 29, 2019, 8:14 am
  #1277  
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,384
Originally Posted by JJeffrey
If DFW-NRT opens up in business then you can call and switch just that flight, you don't need the whole itinerary as AA's married segment madness wouldn't come into play when one segment is AA and the other is a partner segment.
Thank you. Would JAL married segments be applied? Do they have any such rule like AA?
bmchris is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2019, 1:03 pm
  #1278  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: New York
Programs: AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 260
Anyone know if last-minute J availability gets released into the award pool? i.e. 3 seats in J left on a flight departing in 12 days on NRT -> JFK. Is there any consistent timing by which these are released into the award pool? Will the last J seat never be released into award inventory, like in F?
Martellus is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2019, 11:38 pm
  #1279  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Originally Posted by Martellus
Anyone know if last-minute J availability gets released into the award pool? i.e. 3 seats in J left on a flight departing in 12 days on NRT -> JFK. Is there any consistent timing by which these are released into the award pool? Will the last J seat never be released into award inventory, like in F?
Take the F seat. They are much less inclined to release the last J than the last F.
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2019, 6:37 am
  #1280  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 26
Questions about booking JAL with AA miles
In October, I'm looking to book a one way flight on JAL J or F to TYO starting in MKE. The connection point doesn't really matter. There is no availability yet for J or F, but I'm debating whether it makes sense to book a milesaaver in Y. What's strange is that AA has married segment availability in Y connecting in DFW, but the same Y availability doesn't exist for a Y booking out of DFW on JAL. I can book a multi-city award in AA J from MKE-DFW and JAL Y from DFW-NRT, but I don't think that would work to capitalize on AA no change fee policy for upgrading to a J or F ticket somewhere else if availability doesn't open up out of DFW. Am I missing something? Should I just book the milesaaver in AA Y MKE-DFW-NRT and then utilize the no change fee whenever award availability opens up on JAL?

On the return, I do have a J ticket on JAL on hold from NRT-SEA. Is it still possible to add segments to that award hold?

Thanks.
Rumast21 is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2019, 7:40 am
  #1281  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,483
Originally Posted by Rumast21
In October, I'm looking to book a one way flight on JAL J or F to TYO starting in MKE. The connection point doesn't really matter. There is no availability yet for J or F, but I'm debating whether it makes sense to book a milesaaver in Y. What's strange is that AA has married segment availability in Y connecting in DFW, but the same Y availability doesn't exist for a Y booking out of DFW on JAL. I can book a multi-city award in AA J from MKE-DFW and JAL Y from DFW-NRT, but I don't think that would work to capitalize on AA no change fee policy for upgrading to a J or F ticket somewhere else if availability doesn't open up out of DFW. Am I missing something? Should I just book the milesaaver in AA Y MKE-DFW-NRT and then utilize the no change fee whenever award availability opens up on JAL?

On the return, I do have a J ticket on JAL on hold from NRT-SEA. Is it still possible to add segments to that award hold?

Thanks.
I would book the MKE-DFW-NRT in Y now then just keep an eye on it. AA's married segment madness generally applies to only AA metal flights, which is why the same availability doesn't exist if you want JL on the DFW-NRT segment.

And you can definitely add segments to an award on hold. Do your research at aa.com on what's available for SEA-MKE (assume you're going back to MKE?), then call AA to add those on to your existing NRT-SEA segment on hold. If you happen to get a bad agent that says you need to rebook everything from scratch or anything like that, just HUCA.
JJeffrey is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2019, 10:31 am
  #1282  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Originally Posted by Rumast21
In October, I'm looking to book a one way flight on JAL J or F to TYO starting in MKE. The connection point doesn't really matter. There is no availability yet for J or F, but I'm debating whether it makes sense to book a milesaaver in Y. What's strange is that AA has married segment availability in Y connecting in DFW, but the same Y availability doesn't exist for a Y booking out of DFW on JAL. I can book a multi-city award in AA J from MKE-DFW and JAL Y from DFW-NRT, but I don't think that would work to capitalize on AA no change fee policy for upgrading to a J or F ticket somewhere else if availability doesn't open up out of DFW. Am I missing something? Should I just book the milesaaver in AA Y MKE-DFW-NRT and then utilize the no change fee whenever award availability opens up on JAL?

On the return, I do have a J ticket on JAL on hold from NRT-SEA. Is it still possible to add segments to that award hold?

Thanks.
Some awards are available from Point of Sale Japan. Not from the US. Here is one. If you want it you will need to call AA reservations in Japan and make it clear that to the agent that they must search for the award using a point of sale Japan.

[KVS Tool 9.4.3/Diamond - Awards/QF-OneWorld/JP]
Code:
MKE  Milwaukee General Mitchell WI US [KMKE]
TYO  Tokyo Metro JP = NRT HND
MON  07 Oct 2019   1 Seat

Carrier    Flight  From  Depart    To    Arrive         St  Award Availability
---------  ------  ----  --------  ----  --------  ---  --  ------------------
AA         2621    MKE   06:50     DFW   09:32          0   CS+  YS-
 -> JL     11      DFW   12:05     NRT   15:30 +1       0   CS+  YS-
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2019, 5:54 am
  #1283  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by skimthetrees
Some awards are available from Point of Sale Japan. Not from the US. Here is one. If you want it you will need to call AA reservations in Japan and make it clear that to the agent that they must search for the award using a point of sale Japan.

[KVS Tool 9.4.3/Diamond - Awards/QF-OneWorld/JP]
Code:
MKE Milwaukee General Mitchell WI US [KMKE]
TYO Tokyo Metro JP = NRT HND
MON 07 Oct 2019 1 Seat

Carrier Flight From Depart To Arrive St Award Availability
--------- ------ ---- -------- ---- -------- --- -- ------------------
AA 2621 MKE 06:50 DFW 09:32 0 CS+ YS-
-> JL 11 DFW 12:05 NRT 15:30 +1 0 CS+ YS-
Thanks for the heads up. I'm see that award availability on JALs site. However, would this be Saaver level or Aanytime?
Rumast21 is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2019, 6:16 am
  #1284  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,483
Originally Posted by Rumast21
Thanks for the heads up. I'm see that award availability on JALs site. However, would this be Saaver level or Aanytime?
Awards involving partner carriers can only be booked as sAAver. If its showing at JL's website and you find an AA agent that can book it, it would be sAAver.
JJeffrey is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2019, 10:54 am
  #1285  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Originally Posted by Rumast21
Thanks for the heads up. I'm see that award availability on JALs site. However, would this be Saaver level or Aanytime?
Saaver. As I mentioned, you won't be able to book this with a US point of sale so probably not available by calling the US number, but if you call AA Japan and make sure they search availability with Point of Sale Japan (which is not always the default since you may be routed to a call center not in Japan so make sure they understand they must set the point of sale to be Japan when they search for the award or it will not show up) you can book this award with AA miles. I have done this for a JAL award in the past.

Originally Posted by JJeffrey
Awards involving partner carriers can only be booked as sAAver. If its showing at JL's website and you find an AA agent that can book it, it would be sAAver.
Yep.
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2019, 8:22 pm
  #1286  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: AA GM
Posts: 51
I'm trying to travel one way from Kyoto to JFK in February. JAL has flights ITM-NRT-JFK with availability, but the AA site said it won't do any flights out of ITM at all, and insists on giving me KIX-LAX-JFK. Who should I call to try to shake the ITM inventory loose? Is this one of the 'point of sale Japan' things? (For what it's worth, the ITM itins show up on the BA site as bookable from the UK with Avios.)
saschasegan is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2019, 8:47 pm
  #1287  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by skimthetrees
Saaver. As I mentioned, you won't be able to book this with a US point of sale so probably not available by calling the US number, but if you call AA Japan and make sure they search availability with Point of Sale Japan (which is not always the default since you may be routed to a call center not in Japan so make sure they understand they must set the point of sale to be Japan when they search for the award or it will not show up) you can book this award with AA miles. I have done this for a JAL award in the past.


Yep.
I've downloaded KVS tool to see if I could test it out like your searches. However, I can't get the QF JP POS to work while BA and JL searches work just fine. Any special trick?
Rumast21 is offline  
Old Sep 7, 2019, 2:18 am
  #1288  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Originally Posted by Rumast21
I've downloaded KVS tool to see if I could test it out like your searches. However, I can't get the QF JP POS to work while BA and JL searches work just fine. Any special trick?
You have a KVS Diamond membership? Latest KVS from the website (currently 9.4.4)? QF account credentials entered into KVS settings? What error are you getting? Did you look up the error code on the KVSTool website?
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Sep 7, 2019, 5:43 am
  #1289  
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Posts: 26
Originally Posted by skimthetrees
You have a KVS Diamond membership? Latest KVS from the website (currently 9.4.4)? QF account credentials entered into KVS settings? What error are you getting? Did you look up the error code on the KVSTool website?
Diamond, 9.4.4, QF credentials entered, MSIE error - JS time out, Yes I tried the fixes.
Rumast21 is offline  
Old Sep 7, 2019, 11:43 am
  #1290  
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NYC
Programs: AA GM
Posts: 51
Well okay. To add to my previous question, what do you all think of these three options I'm considering to get home from Kyoto:

KIX-LAX-JFK, bookable on AA's site but gets me home late that night
ITM-NRT-JFK, appears on BA site but not AA? How to book?
Bullet train - NRT-JFK, bookable on AA site and gets me home before KIX-LAX-JFK but costs extra for the train ...

It's all in Y, I have two people and 108,000 miles so I'm short of J awards ...
saschasegan is offline  



Advanced Search
Reply Closed Thread Share
Forum Jump

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.