aircrashsurvivor

80,000 AA miles and $5.60 is hard to beat with any other form of redemption for an F ticket. Actually impossible to beat especially as BA is $360 Canadian and �more effective Avion points� to get the Avios miles

Pochama

Both JL JFK flights go to HND, so the NRT discussion is moot.

skimthetrees

It is hard to beat, but if you wait for the AA booking window to open the odds are slim there will be any F seats left. Start looking now and see how many F seats are left at 330 days.

guv1976

Well color me surprised! I flew NRT-JFK on JL in 2019, but guess that I should not have assumed that that service still operates.

mster

Is it possible to book mixed cabin JL awards with avios?

I see itineraries in BA award search from the US to Asia via Tokyo that include segments in different classes (say Premium Economy US-NRT and Economy NRT-BKK), but get an error message if I try to book any of them.

DeathSlam

Yes it is possible, but you may need to ring up. If they try to charge you for ringing up, make sure to tell them it was not possible online so you can avoid the fee.

rauliot

Hi there,
I have some Avios on my BA account, and would like to book a flight from Seoul to Tokyo and back, but have been unable to share my Avios with JAL....
Is there a "secret way" to use those BA Avios on JAL flights? Or using them on Jetstar?
Cheers

etiene

It's not a secret. You don't use Avios on jal.com, you use Avios on ba.com to book JAL flights. Log in to your account and choose "book using Avios" and search as normal for SEL-TYO.

rauliot

Thanks for the reply!

I have just done that, but the airport listed on BA.com is not the one JAL uses.

It does not give me the option to choose GMP as departure airpot, it only gives me ICN as departure. Is there a way around this, that I can choose GMP as departure, in order to use Avios?

KARFA

you can try typing in combinations GMP ICN NRT HND and TYO. don't worry that some of them don't autocomplete with the full name.

also a warm welcome to FT rauliot

benjaminp

I currently have a HND-ORD flight booked in J on JAL via Avios. If availability opens up, I'm hoping to upgrade to F. However, it seems like while AA sees JAL T-14 availability, I haven't had the same success looking on the BA website.

For instance, I currently see one F ORD-HND on JAL this coming Wednesday March 13 searching AA's website. No such luck on the BA website. Would BA be able to see/book this if I call in?

PB2

Since BA devalued Avios on JAL short/medium sectors (in my case TYO to SEL) are there any work arounds? The HfP article explaining the devaluation in Sept 2023 mentioned booking via Qatar, but on there I can�t seem to search for flights to GMP? Business return Tokyo Seoul seems to be around 1000� at the moment so perhaps 52800 Avios and �100 not such bad value via BA? Thoughts?

marks1k

I made a newbie mistake. I'd been planning to wait and try to get two J ANA seats T-14 in September/October as I don't need much lead time and my dates are flexible. Then I got a seats.aero notification that I could book two JAL J tickets on QR at a good rate so decided to jump on that right away. In retrospect, I should have done more research. I checked and saw the tickets were available on the AA site. Then I went to the QR site- the seats.aero notice said they were bookable on QR, though I now realize I should have checked the BA site. I transferred Amex points to QR Avios and thought I was booking two tickets on the QR site, but was actually just sending in a request (as I've since leaned, you have to call QR to actually book the seats). I don't know if these were phantom seats or if I lost them because I didn't call until almost 48 hours after making what I thought was the booking (which was when I learned you can only book over the phone).

Question 1: Were these likely phantom seats, as seats.aero told me was likely when I asked them? Or is it likely they were available but I just made the mistake of not calling immediately?

In any case, now I'm now stuck with a bunch of QR Avios. My goal is still to find two J seats on any airline from the west coast to Japan in Sept./Oct. I've read the best way to do this is searching the BA site (or actually starting with the AA site to identify dates, then moving to BA to verify and book. I've also read to keep an eye on AS as they may list JAL award tickets that you can't see on AA or BA, but are bookable on BA with a phone call.

My other question is if the AA site is showing availability on AA (as a saver award or whatever they're called) or on JAL and they don't show up on the BA site, does that mean they're not available with Avios? Or should I call BA? Same question wth AS: if a JAL or AA flight shows up on AS but not on BA, should I call BA or just assume it's not available? Are there any other things I should be doing that could lead me to finding two J awards from the west coast to Japan with Avios in Sept./Oct.?

Thanks for any help. And please let me know if there's a more appropriate place to post this.

DeathSlam

As shown up-thread AA shows more availability than BA for JAL rewards. They have different partner agreements.
I don't think your avios are stuck in QR. If you create accounts for IB, BA, EI and link them you can transfer avios from one to another.

marks1k

Thanks. Yes, but I have to book on BA as I can't use avios on AA (or so I understand). So my question is, If JAL flights show up on AA or AA flights themselves (as saver awards) appear, can I call BA and book them even if they don't show up on the BA website?

I do realize I can switch Avios among partners, but as my goal is to Japan, the only options (I think) would be AA saver awards, JAL, or CX as I'm flying from the US. Please correct me if I'm wrong.