volta

I'm trying to find award availability from US to Japan in J. Looking for award on BA.com, I see only premium economy available, no business class (as far I know all the routes are 3 class cabins, with B787). I read somewhere that F awards are not available from US to Japan on JAL. Could it be that on 3 class flights, they remove J award tickets?
Any tips/hints how to fly from US to Japan west bound on Avios?

Mwenenzi

Have you looked from all USA airports to all Japanese airports?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narita...tional_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haneda_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansai...tional_Airport

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_destinations
And o CX?
https://www.flightconnections.com/

volta

Well, I didn't try from all US airports, tried BOS/JFK/DFW/ORD and TYO and KIX (KIX returns error on BA website when searching)
JAL always comes up and plenty of PE, but no J to TYO

guv1976

I can't speak to what award space JL makes available to BAEC, but AA is displaying an F award seat this week on JL JFK-HND:

1Aturnleft

I can see JL F/J availability JFK-HND at very short notice (Travelling within 7 days). Could it be perhaps JL only opens premium cabins for redemption shortly before travel date? In theory you could always secure Premium availability now for the dates you're needing then look to swap this out + $50 change fee as/when F/J opens up. Also use the specific airport 3 letter code (HND/NRT) instead of the broader city code of TYO.



Business


First

1Aturnleft

AA miles and cash seems far better value than using Avios for this trip!

Gotta love those BA YQ surcharges

EuropeanPete

That Avios pricing looks a lot more than I would have expected. I didn�t know there were return flights at nearly 300,000 Avios. Is this new?

1Aturnleft

Welcome to new Avios pricing that slipped in unannounced during December.

volta

I did some more research and it looks as you might be right. JL releases only within 7-10 days. Tried JFK and ORD and nothing after Feb 2nd shows up as available. So the trick would be to rebook on weekly basis until March when I wanted to travel
Or, are you saying that I can book now the premium cabin and ask the customer service to change it to the dates (flexible within 4-5 days) I would like to travel? Does being a GGL help with such thigns?

guv1976

I don't see how booking flights on dates when you have no intention to fly would benefit you. Doing so would likely have no effect on JL's decision about whether to release Business or First award seats on the date when you do want to travel.

1Aturnleft

I'm saying book Premium Economy for the dates you do want. Then start checking Avios availability again from 10 days before departure for F/J availability. If you see the availability call BA Exec Club and have the service cemtre perform the upgrade manually for the additional avios and cash + change fee. If you book JFK-HND Premium but you find ORD-NRT Business opens later for example, you can still amend the route but you'll still need to factor in positioning flight to ORD at short notice.... this may be at additional significant expense.

There's no point booking J/F redemption for a date that's no use to you.

GGL will only help in the sense you have a better/dedicated contact to make the changes via. Partner availability remains the same for every BAEC member. They won't be able to force redemption space on JL. You'll need to exercise some patience keeping in mind there's no guarantee space will open.... it's very much a risk but hopefully should pay off.

volta

Thank you. Well, there is risk in everything.

Rukes

JAL has very limited first class seats when they are first available, and a handful of business.

It�s decently easy to find around 2 seats in business here and there at any date, just depends on the route/load.

The key is two weeks before a flight, at that point JAL opens up a majority of First and Biz seating for awards, so at the two week point, that's when you will see it.

As others said it�s best to just book what you need, then when you see availability at the two week or less mark, call up and change.

KARFA

Except they are JAL's YQ surcharges being levied on avios reward bookings, not BA's. BA doesn't add their own YQ when booking partner flights. I am not sure why this myth keeps getting perpetuated.

shefgab

I booked SFO-HND JL F last summer to travel this month. VERY sparse availability, but I found the odd seat when I was looking. So it certainly used to be possible to book in advance.