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)
Feb 29, 2016, 6:05 am
#61
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz
Posts: 1,611
I got my hopes up when I saw DFW JL011 with 4 J seats available. I just need two and am currently booked on the AA 787 flight in J (would prefer JAL for a few reasons, notably the seat). Looks like phantom space because I called in and they could see, but couldn't get it to ticket.
Will keep plugging away. But that was a letdown.
Will keep plugging away. But that was a letdown.
Feb 29, 2016, 6:26 am
#62
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Keep in mind that you can also change routing if it works better as long as the origin and destination don't change. For example, if you saw AA F space JFK-LAX and then JL F space LAX-NRT you could definitely call up and ask for that whole route instead of the direct JFK-NRT flight.
Feb 29, 2016, 7:26 am
#63
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 176
Yes. Simply call AA and feed them the existing PNR and the new route information (flight #). The AAgent will reprice, charge you the new taxes, refund the old ones, and net out the miles. There is no fee to do this regardless of status as long as the origin and destination are the same. It usually goes very smoothly though occasionally there can be issues with the tax refunds and mileage shuffling, so keep an eye on them.
Keep in mind that you can also change routing if it works better as long as the origin and destination don't change. For example, if you saw AA F space JFK-LAX and then JL F space LAX-NRT you could definitely call up and ask for that whole route instead of the direct JFK-NRT flight.
Keep in mind that you can also change routing if it works better as long as the origin and destination don't change. For example, if you saw AA F space JFK-LAX and then JL F space LAX-NRT you could definitely call up and ask for that whole route instead of the direct JFK-NRT flight.
Feb 29, 2016, 7:38 am
#64
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: DCA
Posts: 7,769
Dunno, that's another thread and I haven't paid attention to it because I am not in that situation. OP just asked about whether an upgrade was possible. The amount of miles may vary.
Feb 29, 2016, 12:08 pm
#65
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SNA
Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, National EE
Posts: 1,204
Post-devaluation you can change an award and maintain the price if the award doesn’t require reissue. That means if you’re traveling between the same origin and destination in the same class of service and the same general set of airlines (either American, oneworld partners, or non-oneworld partners), you’ll be able to make a change after the devaluation and preserve the price.
However, if you make any change which requires the award to be reissued, you’ll be charged the new cost, as this will require the old award to be redeposited and the miles to be deducted from your account again.
Feb 29, 2016, 1:10 pm
#66
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: LAX
Posts: 588
On that note, is there any discernable pattern with last-minute F availability on JAL? I had to switch to AA's flights (still in F), but would prefer JL for very obvious reasons. I'm hoping to switch back to JL close in if they release space, so it would be good to know what I should expect, if anything.
Last edited by kdoughboy; Feb 29, 2016 at 1:33 pm
Feb 29, 2016, 7:08 pm
#67
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz
Posts: 1,611
As posted earlier last night I saw a couple JAL seats out of DFW to NRT so called in to change to that from my ORD-NRT (on AA 787) routing but the agebt couldn't get it to ticket. There had been three seats showing on BA, but went down to one after that call
This afternoon saw three tickets DFW-NRT once again and decided to call in and try again. Easy peasy. Agent rebooked and ticketed in a few minutes.
Just wanted to pass along to anyone running into difficulties as they want to burn AA miles. There is hope and HUCA...even 24 hours between Cs.
This afternoon saw three tickets DFW-NRT once again and decided to call in and try again. Easy peasy. Agent rebooked and ticketed in a few minutes.
Just wanted to pass along to anyone running into difficulties as they want to burn AA miles. There is hope and HUCA...even 24 hours between Cs.
Feb 29, 2016, 9:55 pm
#68
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 476
I wonder if those were mine. I had to give up 2 F LAX-NRT on 11/4 and another 2 F NRT-LAX on 11/19.
On that note, is there any discernable pattern with last-minute F availability on JAL? I had to switch to AA's flights (still in F), but would prefer JL for very obvious reasons. I'm hoping to switch back to JL close in if they release space, so it would be good to know what I should expect, if anything.
On that note, is there any discernable pattern with last-minute F availability on JAL? I had to switch to AA's flights (still in F), but would prefer JL for very obvious reasons. I'm hoping to switch back to JL close in if they release space, so it would be good to know what I should expect, if anything.
Feb 29, 2016, 10:08 pm
#69
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Houston, TX/Australia
Programs: AA EXP/Exec Citi, NZ* G, Nat EE, Avis PP, HH Gold
Posts: 649
On that note, is there any discernable pattern with last-minute F availability on JAL? I had to switch to AA's flights (still in F), but would prefer JL for very obvious reasons. I'm hoping to switch back to JL close in if they release space, so it would be good to know what I should expect, if anything.
Feb 29, 2016, 10:10 pm
#70
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: CAN, LAX, TPE
Programs: AA, AS, CI, DL, UA
Posts: 2,898
I am confused by the 330 days count.
I checked BA and it says there are 4 seats available on 1/24 (or it's phantom?) TPE-NRT-LAX, but called AA and they said they cannot see any First Class, only Business? She said it's not yet release. Then I asked to check CX and she said she cannot see as well, but BA also shows CX avail...
I checked BA and it says there are 4 seats available on 1/24 (or it's phantom?) TPE-NRT-LAX, but called AA and they said they cannot see any First Class, only Business? She said it's not yet release. Then I asked to check CX and she said she cannot see as well, but BA also shows CX avail...
Last edited by coolfish1103; Feb 29, 2016 at 10:17 pm
Feb 29, 2016, 10:17 pm
#71
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Houston, TX/Australia
Programs: AA EXP/Exec Citi, NZ* G, Nat EE, Avis PP, HH Gold
Posts: 649
I'm not seeing any seats for NRT-LAX in F, 330 days out. Just 2 in Biz.
Did you check BA again AFTER your call? it's possible someone beat you to them...
Did you check BA again AFTER your call? it's possible someone beat you to them...
Feb 29, 2016, 10:23 pm
#72
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: CAN, LAX, TPE
Programs: AA, AS, CI, DL, UA
Posts: 2,898
Though how is the 330 days count done? Is 1/24 330 days today or 1/25 330 days today? Cause I asked for dates before and after she also said she cannot see...
Feb 29, 2016, 11:44 pm
#73
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Houston, TX/Australia
Programs: AA EXP/Exec Citi, NZ* G, Nat EE, Avis PP, HH Gold
Posts: 649
I think there's a post somewhere saying exactly what time they are available to book thru AA, but I don't have time to go digging for it right now.
I can tell you that I see 1/25 seats for JL J on BA's site right now. I'm guessing she meant there isn't any F showing?
I can tell you that I see 1/25 seats for JL J on BA's site right now. I'm guessing she meant there isn't any F showing?
Mar 1, 2016, 11:39 am
#74
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: LAX
Posts: 588
If your flights are after March 22nd, and you switch your flights back to JL after March 22nd, you'll likely incur an additional mileage charge as posted above. Unless you have other non-AA flights on the itinerary already (this would make it an "partner" award as opposed to an AA award).
Mar 1, 2016, 3:42 pm
#75
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Houston, TX/Australia
Programs: AA EXP/Exec Citi, NZ* G, Nat EE, Avis PP, HH Gold
Posts: 649
The outbound is actually LAX-NRT (AA) // HND-HIJ (JL) so I should be able to change the LAX-NRT segment to JL if it opens up without any increased mileage. The inbound NRT-LAX is now just the single AA flight, so I'd probably have to pay the additional mileage to switch to JL. But since it's Asia 1 to North America, the increase isn't *that* bad...