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)
Oct 24, 2022, 1:38 pm
#1981
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: HPN, LAX, HNL, or somewhere in between
Programs: UA 1K, JetBlue Mosaic
Posts: 436
I verified that inventory was available starting at T-13. Couldn't book any class of service on the AA site so went to chat. When an agent connected I said "Hi, I’m having trouble making an international award booking on the website and app. JL flight X on {DATE} for 1 passenger {class of service} partner award." The agent was able to see the space and sent a secure form for me to enter my payment info. My request was in the ticketing queue within 10 mins.
Oct 24, 2022, 2:14 pm
#1982
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: san jose, ca
Programs: Hilton dia, IHG plat, Hyatt plat
Posts: 28
You might be running into the phantom inventory bug.
I verified that inventory was available starting at T-13. Couldn't book any class of service on the AA site so went to chat. When an agent connected I said "Hi, I’m having trouble making an international award booking on the website and app. JL flight X on {DATE} for 1 passenger {class of service} partner award." The agent was able to see the space and sent a secure form for me to enter my payment info. My request was in the ticketing queue within 10 mins.
I verified that inventory was available starting at T-13. Couldn't book any class of service on the AA site so went to chat. When an agent connected I said "Hi, I’m having trouble making an international award booking on the website and app. JL flight X on {DATE} for 1 passenger {class of service} partner award." The agent was able to see the space and sent a secure form for me to enter my payment info. My request was in the ticketing queue within 10 mins.
Oct 24, 2022, 2:21 pm
#1983
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: HPN, LAX, HNL, or somewhere in between
Programs: UA 1K, JetBlue Mosaic
Posts: 436
From how you booked, would you say that a phone agent has less visibility into partner award inventory than a chat agent? The reason for my asking is, after finding availability pop up around ~2 weeks prior to departure, i immediately tried both aa.com and calling reservation desk with no luck, but was able to grab the same itinerary through alaskaair.com.
I used chat because I was currently in the air and couldn't call, I looked at exactly 13 days before the flight at 8 PM Eastern and immediately tried to book through the app, which failed.
I confirmed via ExpertFlyer that the inventory hadn't changed since my first attempted booking to ensure I wasn't sniped. Then I used chat to book.
If the flight is bookable on AS/BA, it should be bookable on AA. Try HUCA and ensure you're feeding the exact flights to the agent. I even had to provide the departure and arrival airports and times, even after telling the agent the flight number, date, and class of service.
Oct 24, 2022, 11:29 pm
#1984
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AS MVP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 803
I am getting errors on an AA-issued JL award ticket. The flight is JL30 in December. When selecting seats, it always produce errors. Does anyone know the reason?
Oct 26, 2022, 5:44 am
#1985
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Cape Cod
Programs: Free agent
Posts: 1,535
Are you selecting on the AA website or JL website? I have had that issue on the AA website so I try to use my JL ticket number to adjust on the JL website which has much better success.
Oct 26, 2022, 11:26 am
#1986
Join Date: May 2007
Programs: UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 5,449
The "check" links in the OP are to the JL website, so it appears they were trying to choose seats on the JL website.
Oct 26, 2022, 7:11 pm
#1987
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: bay area, ca
Programs: UA plat, , aa plat, marriott LT titanium
Posts: 4,833
The AA website is not only not allowing bookings on award JL to go through but also CX - tried to book bkk-hkg or bkk-dps (JL). Jl goes to red "flight no longer available...", CX goes all the way to seat selection then "page not found try again" 
But then I go to "my trips" and 2 trips that led to "that page has taken flight" are now booked on hold???? What a mess!
But then I go to "my trips" and 2 trips that led to "that page has taken flight" are now booked on hold???? What a mess!
Oct 26, 2022, 8:57 pm
#1988
Join Date: Feb 2014
Posts: 253
Anyone notice every jal bus/first class is unavailable on aa ?
Says 2 seats available and when you check out it shows gone. Like for every premium seat….
Oct 27, 2022, 5:51 am
#1989
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: ORD, sadly...
Programs: AA Exec Plat
Posts: 599
Oct 29, 2022, 11:17 am
#1991
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Thousand Oaks, Ca., USA
Programs: AA Lifetime Plat; Bonvoy Titanium Lifetime Elite;Hyatt Globalist; HHonors Diamond; United Silver
Posts: 8,313
Oct 29, 2022, 5:10 pm
#1992
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 294
Premium economy
I see plenty of premium economy seats for SGN-NRT-SFO when I use BA to search for award seats on Japan Airline. However, I found none when I use AA site to search for the same route same days. I thought we can redeem premium economy on JAL with AA miles. I called and the AA agent can’t find any premium economy seat too. Does anyone know a way to get around this? I try to avoid the fuel surcharges imposed by BA.
Oct 29, 2022, 6:49 pm
#1993
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 20
I haven't had any luck getting phone or chat agent find availability for A/F class JL ticket even tho AA and Alaska Air are showing availability. Oddly enough British Airways wasn't showing up F award availability for same flights.
Oct 29, 2022, 11:44 pm
#1994
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, Fairmont Premier
Posts: 173
I see plenty of premium economy seats for SGN-NRT-SFO when I use BA to search for award seats on Japan Airline. However, I found none when I use AA site to search for the same route same days. I thought we can redeem premium economy on JAL with AA miles. I called and the AA agent can’t find any premium economy seat too. Does anyone know a way to get around this? I try to avoid the fuel surcharges imposed by BA.
Oct 30, 2022, 6:25 am
#1995
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Valencia, Spain
Posts: 806
I have been searching intra-Asia awards for a few weeks and saw JL PE seats available on the BA site but never on AA.com. A few days ago I called AA and the agent did some research and checked with colleagues and then confirmed that we cannot use AA miles for JL PE. She has no idea why; that's just the way it is.