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

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