FlyerBeek

Disagree regarding redemption value for domestic economy awards. Probably half of my AAdvantage redemptions are JL domestic awards and I get fantastic value out of them - flying in Japan (especially to some more remote areas) is not exactly inexpensive. In the last year I've redeemed numerous awards for 7.5k AA miles that would have cost more than $400 each way. That being said, booking a Class J award is a terrible choice. It's twice the mileage cost for a seat you can pay $7-21 to upgrade into at the airport (depending on flight length). Depending on the aircraft there are often better seats in Y that you can reserve with OW status than many of the Class J seats. Low cost carriers are great assuming you book ahead and they actually serve where you want to fly, but JL (and NH) domestic awards offer incredible flexibility and a very reasonable mileage cost, in my opinion.

-FlyerBeek

skimthetrees

No, it is not. My deduction would be that a Business award via AA translates to Class J.

ExpertFlyer shows three selling cabins on a domestic A350 flight CTS-HND, First, Business, and Economy. JAL sells three cabins, First, Class J, and Economy but they only offer domestic awards in Class J and Economy so if you are booking a domestic award, the highest class it will be is Class J. It seems pretty obvious, First maps to First, Economy maps to Economy, and Business maps to Class J. You should be able to tell for sure by what seats you can select. To add more context, when I booked a Qatar Business award through AAdvantage, CAI-DOH-US, the CAI-DOH award was listed on AA as being in First and DOH-US was Business, so the short segment was listed as First Class when booking the award even though the long segment was Business and the complete award priced at the Business Class rate. So, I would expect AA to likewise list the JAL flight award as First if it were really in First, but they don't so it is probably not First which aligns with the other evidence to point to an AA Business award on domestic JAL metal being Class J.

As far as baggage. They can probably tag the luggage through but if you connect in HND I believe you will have to claim and recheck based on previous posts. If both flights are on one ticket you will get the international flight luggage allowance. On separate tickets, I don't know what they will do but I suspect it comes down to two choices, one, the baggage allowances will be separate, or two, they check your bag through but if your bags exceed either individual flight allowance they will charge extra?

FlyerBeek

In addition to what skimthetrees mentioned immediately above (business award does NOT map to JL domestic F) - also realize that "Class J" is not a business class product in the way we typically think. It's really just a domestic premium economy product (slightly better seat than Y with the exact same onboard service - plus the addition of one extra non-alcoholic beverage option).

-FlyerBeek

holiosan

This seems to be consistent with their international First. My family flies to Japan a couple of times every year....we fly Economy there and I cash in miles to come back early while they stay with wife's family. I'm on the site by the minute when the 2 week window comes up. Not a prob getting into First yet.

Martellus

Does upgrading a domestic leg of an award ticket to J make it "count" towards AA status? (I'm in particular need of some extra segments)

AlwaysAisle

Beside what other have already posted, even if you have international F award, Japan domestic portion will be Class J and not eligible for domestic F.

When booking First Class or Business Class for the international sector of an itinerary, Class J is permitted for the connecting domestic sector if a seat is available at the time of booking. (Award travel in First Class for the domestic sector is not permitted.)

For itinerary that includes Japan domestic sectors

FlyerBeek

Unfortunately, not any longer in my experience. Up until mid-2022, all of my AA award tickets on JL domestic segments counted as qualifying segments (regardless of whether I upgraded to F/J or remained in Y). I didn't receive any segment credit for the most recent JL domestic segments I flew in August and September.

-FlyerBeek

Tilto007

Cancelling 2 Flights in around 20 mins . If they do go back hopefully somebody here can get them

First flight 2 Lax to Kix Business March 17 JAL
second flight 2 Hnd to Dfw Business March 31 on JAL
Prime cherry blossom time hopefully someone can get them . We just landed from a great trip and we will definitely not be using them.They we’re booked a year ago as a standby on in case we could not go in November

calculus1918

We have been searching for business class tickets from JFK-HND-CTS. There seemed to be 1 every day for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Finally tried to book myself for Monday, 10-23 but got the errored out message. Called and was told no availability on Monday but there were award space for the same flight on Tuesday, 10-24. Helpful agent booked the flight for us using 60k AA miles and $5.60 in taxes and told me to expect a confirmation email in about 2 hours. However, still have not received any email and when I log into my AA account, my miles are still there. Should I be concerned or call back or this is normal since the space is with Japan Airlines? Thanks for any advice!!!

estnet

Usually I can see my reservation in my account immediately - the the ticket is issued within (at most) a few hours. If you can't see the reservation in your account I'd call back

calculus1918

Thanks for the update. I see the trip in my family's record locator (buying the ticket for mother-in-law). Status is On request, and I see the reservation in the Japan airline site with a different record locator. However, it does state business class but for seat selection, no seat selection. I am hoping that after a few days, then I will be able to select the seats on my end? Thanks again for the expert advice (first time booking a business using AA points, exciting for normal economy travelers)!!!

estnet

Once the ticket is issued and there is a ticket number you should be able to select seat on JL website using their record locator

saaveraward

call AA Australia. Theu should be able to ticket it while youre on the phone.

calculus1918

Appreciate the insight, looking forward to surprising the in-laws in October, safe travels everyone!!!

calculus1918

Checked today, our flight for October 24, 2023 still shows the same on AA.com as Status: On request

Should I be concerned, we made the original booking with an AA agent on Sunday morning. Since then, we have already booked our flight via Jetblue to JFK to prepare for this trip. When I called AA today, the customer rep said that Japan Airlines needs to review the booking, it's been close to 4 days. Just hope it goes through...