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)
Jul 16, 2019, 10:57 am
#1216
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 6
Opposite of married segment?
Hey guys, need some help / insights here. Trying to book KUL-SFO in business for this winter. When I searched KUL-SFO on AA, the only option I got was KUL-MNL on MH and MNL-SFO on JL. I'm currently holding this ticket with AA but would like to change it up a bit if possible since I prefer to leave KUL at a later time of the day and the 3.5 red eye from MNL to HND doesn't sound ideal either.
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
Jul 16, 2019, 11:54 am
#1217
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
Hey guys, need some help / insights here. Trying to book KUL-SFO in business for this winter. When I searched KUL-SFO on AA, the only option I got was KUL-MNL on MH and MNL-SFO on JL. I'm currently holding this ticket with AA but would like to change it up a bit if possible since I prefer to leave KUL at a later time of the day and the 3.5 red eye from MNL to HND doesn't sound ideal either.
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
Jul 16, 2019, 12:11 pm
#1218
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 6
So HND-SFO wouldn't show up on its own, which is kinda expected. I looked at a few other airports that JL fly to in SE Asia. I could find routes through CGK, SGN, HAN, MNL in multi-city function, but just not SIN. I also tried other west coast options to end the trip, like SEA/SAN, exactly the same thing.
Is it possible that only SIN-HND was excluded from marrying to a US flight?
Is it possible that only SIN-HND was excluded from marrying to a US flight?
Jul 16, 2019, 12:12 pm
#1219
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 6
Maybe the problem is that HND-SFO is married to MNL-HND. If you can find the segments separately online, I would use the multi-city function to put them on hold and then call in and see if the agent can price as one ticket (although the success of this tactic has been going down lately in my experience).
Is it possible that only SIN-HND was excluded from marrying to a US flight?
Jul 16, 2019, 2:43 pm
#1221
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 6
Hmmm ok so it's just there's no more availability for this connection on the date I want? Do you know if there's any trick I can do to break it since there's definitely spots on the SIN-HND flight and I already secured a spot on the HND-SFO leg? Thanks!
Jul 16, 2019, 4:11 pm
#1222
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: Skyview
Programs: AAdvantage
Posts: 32
I don't have any tricks, maybe others can help with that. However, I would point out that you can book two separate awards in a single PNR. At least that way you can lock in the itinerary you want. The KUL-HND part of the itinerary could be added to your existing PNR although it would require 30k miles as a separate award compared to the difference between KUL-SFO (70k) and HND-SFO (60k) which is 10k miles.
Jul 16, 2019, 5:18 pm
#1223
Join Date: Jan 2012
Programs: AY+ Plat, Marriott Plat, Hyatt Discoverist
Posts: 2,846
What do you mean by break? It sounds like you’ve secured HND-SFO that is married to MNL-HND. There’s no trick to break that and connect it with something else like SIN-HND—that’s the definition of married segments. You can try other SE Asia cities (like BKK, etc.), but it sounds like you’ve tried that. The other US west coast cities are: SEA, LAX (both KIX and NRT) and SAN. Finally, you can check CX (which you can do using the BA or QF site).
Jul 16, 2019, 6:20 pm
#1224
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Hey guys, need some help / insights here. Trying to book KUL-SFO in business for this winter. When I searched KUL-SFO on AA, the only option I got was KUL-MNL on MH and MNL-SFO on JL. I'm currently holding this ticket with AA but would like to change it up a bit if possible since I prefer to leave KUL at a later time of the day and the 3.5 red eye from MNL to HND doesn't sound ideal either.
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
If I just search KUL-HND on AA on the same day, I could see a lot more options. One option I'd like to take route through SIN: KUL-SIN on MH and SIN-HND on JL. I tried calling AA a few times, the answers I got was the agent could see availability on the SIN-HND leg by itself but no availability when trying to connect it with the HND-SFO leg.
I have heard of married segment before, but this sounds more like an opposite? Any insights on if it's possible to break this? Thanks so much in advance!
Jul 17, 2019, 6:05 pm
#1225
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Florida and Bangkok
Posts: 393
Business award and luggage
In the past I've booked awards on JAL in business for JFK-NRT-BKK and JAL is one of the few airlines that allow 3 free bags for business class. I'm currently looking at MCO-DFW-NRT-BKK and the first segment is on AA and in coach while the DFW-NRT-BKK is with JAL in business. I thought that baggage rules follow the long haul carrier, but not sure if that applies with awards and split cabin. Just tried calling but the agent didn't know and went to research the topic but I got hung up on. Any advice (besides travel light)?
Jul 17, 2019, 10:26 pm
#1226
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ocean Beach
Programs: Alaska MPVG75, AAdvantage PlatPro, Hyatt Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 535
In the past I've booked awards on JAL in business for JFK-NRT-BKK and JAL is one of the few airlines that allow 3 free bags for business class. I'm currently looking at MCO-DFW-NRT-BKK and the first segment is on AA and in coach while the DFW-NRT-BKK is with JAL in business. I thought that baggage rules follow the long haul carrier, but not sure if that applies with awards and split cabin. Just tried calling but the agent didn't know and went to research the topic but I got hung up on. Any advice (besides travel light)?
Jul 20, 2019, 2:24 pm
#1228
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Avios
Posts: 438
Japan airlines appears to have a new policy of blocking window seats from AA partner awards.It has been reported in a few blogs but can anyone confirm this??
Jul 20, 2019, 3:28 pm
#1229
Moderator: Travel Safety/Security, Travel Tools, California, Los Angeles; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: oneword Emerald
Posts: 20,594
I will note that due to the six across business cabin configuration of the JAL 787, only 33% of the seats have windows compared with 50% on American.
Last edited by TWA884; Jul 20, 2019 at 3:42 pm Reason: Correct/add info
Jul 20, 2019, 3:34 pm
#1230
Join Date: Aug 2016
Programs: Avios
Posts: 438
I recently used AA.com to book a MileSAAver business award from NRT to SEA on JAL. I asked for a window seat when I called to get a seat assignment, however, I was told that only aisle seats were available. That was more than two months in advance of the flight.
I will note that due to the eight across business cabin configuration of the JAL 787, only 25% of the seats are next to the windows.
I will note that due to the eight across business cabin configuration of the JAL 787, only 25% of the seats are next to the windows.
