Ease of redemption on JetPrivilege
 

I was leafing through the Jet FF brochure on a domestic India flight and while I would not qualify for any status as I don't fly much on 9W, I am tempted to use it as the FF for all airlines that I fly once in a while but not regularly to qualify for any status.

Now that CO is in Star Alliance, my KL/AF flights (mostly in C) need a new home as I don't have a SkyTeam FF. EK, EY and MH are the carriers I fly once in a while as they have good F/J fares. It seems that 9W is a partner to all these airlines.

The decision will of course boil down to if I can redeem miles easily on 9W metal in C or F. Redemption levels seem to be decent and I should have 80-100 K spillover miles a year in my 9W account from the flights which have nowhere to go. However, it is unlikely I will have any Tier Miles or Points to go beyond Silver.

Any suggestions are welcome.

I think Jet's burning rate for J/F class is too high( 2x miles required for J and 3X miles required for F class). You can not earn status mile so you can not have many bonus miles as well.

I personally am quite satisfied with redemption availability. In the last 12 months I have redeemed LHR-DEL-LHR once in F and once in J, DEL-HKG-DEL in J, BRU-YYZ-BRU in J. The dates have also been either exactly what I wanted or within +/-2 days.

Some here think 9W redemption rates are a tad high, but IMHO they are quite comparable to BAEC and LH M&M, my two other main programs. I also get a better F&J product on 9W for similar burn rates. Earn rates however are indeed somewhat lower on 9W (for eg. 225% for a Plat in 9W F, as opposed to 325% for a SEN in LH F or 250% for a BA Gold in BA F.)

They only allocate 2 seats per flight in Biz and 1 seat in F on their Long Hauls. I have yet to see them releasing more availability even if the flight is empty. (has anyone managed to get that 2nd F seat?)

To be honest with you I feel the miles + the vouchers that you earn kind of make up for the high redemption rates.

Over all it's not a bad program if you can book in advance. Or else they do let you stand by which most programs don't.

I looked at the redemption rates and they are not much worse than M/M. Anyway JP is mainly for my "stray" miles which can not go to my regular programs, so tier benefits are not that material (my main motivation is to pool all these miles into one program with no status but at least some miles rather than have several programs where I have no status and few miles).
I am bailing out of CO because I already have two *A programs and can't see any sense in having a third one as well now they have left SkyTeam- which means my EK flights have no FFP (which would have earned only 150% in F with CO).

I haven't seen two F award seats on any of the Europe-India flights. Could this be because 9W's award inventory management may not be all that dynamic?

Finally just got enough miles in the 9W account to process dummy bookings to see availibility. Seen plenty of 1 seat in F but never 2. If you want 2 seats, J usually is available........but 9W J is (my opinion) awful if travelling as a couple.

i have managed 2 seats in f on the del-lon route....booking the first one was easy but the second one took some doing....it took about a week but finally the good people at the jp desk gave in & gave me the second seat....

I guess being a JP Plat did the trick?

probably....there seems to be a HUGE difference in the way they treat their plats....

+1. I have really felt valued as a Plat. And thus it is a status I shall ensure I do my best to renew.

why would you say that????

Actually, I find them to treat everyone as best as they can...and they usually succeed! ^ :)

Jet is probably doing what SQ does - opens up 1 award seat, then the other, and after that it might only waitlist...

Possibly due to the dividers between the seats in the herringbone config.

One can always sit opposite each other, but some may not like that...

i see what you mean....however, i have never found that to be a problem....to each his own i guess....

My wife is a bit clingy and the herringbone is not quite ideal for us. We like to sit next to each, have a chat every now and then, enjoy our drinks together etc etc.

It gets worse when you add Children (although i have none yet) into the mix as well.

Getting back to the 2nd F seat, unfortunately i use AA miles so no way to standby or ask Jet to release a 2nd seat. On the flipside, at least i can get the F seat for less than half the miles that Jet ask for!

My kids were quite upset with sitting apart from their parents at first - now they clamour to fly on Jet versus another carrier, due to the IM's possible with the AVOD on board...of course, SQ has it to, but not on their old 773's, with the older KrisWorld!

Thats what I thought too but this is what happened to me recently. I booked two seats and used my vouchers to upgrade both. Mine booked 5 days back in K class and the other booked one day before the flight in S class.

Upon checking on the day of the flight the higher (S) class which was booked later had cleared and the one booked 5 days before in K class was still wait listed. I am a Gold and the other wasn't even a JP member.

I was quite peed off about this, so this means that Jet does not actually wait list rather they clear upgrades depending on class of booking. :td:

that is a little strange....

but here again plats have an advantage....we can book in any class in economy & use the vouchers for an upgrade....& i have yet to come across a single instance since becoming plat where my upgrade has not gone through....

Very strange. Especially as I am Gold and the other pax had no status what so ever.

Maybe a certain person's upgrade voucher was used for him and therefore he cleared first! :p

i happen to know these travel agents who are on really good terms with jet....i always book my jet tickets through them....i find the difference between buying online & buying through them to be a few hundred inr if that much....the good thing about booking through them is that they chase down jet for the upgrade & so far i am 100% on upgrades using vouchers....if any of you are interested pm me i can pass along their number to you....

Thats what I had thought, but I used "his" voucher first which was the one that didn't clear :D

I think that guy creates too many problems for them - that's what I heard! ;)

oh, we are talking about 'that' guy....yup, he is nothing but trouble....no wonder the upgrade didn't go through....:D

Oh didn't realize they had him marked! :p

jet is having an amazing 50% off redemption sale for flights to hong kong....this was perfect for me as i had to travel there later this month....i managed to get two première class tickets for my wife & i, for 20k miles each (80k return for 2 tickets)....

at the time of booking last month, jet was only offering 1 first class redemption ticket per flight....at 30k per sector this was a great deal so i went ahead & also booked that ticket & requested them to give me one more in first so that i could convert the première tickets to first....they put me on a waitlist & said they would try their best to confirm the second booking....

this morning someone from jp gave me a call to let me know they have confirmed the second ticket in first as well....

this is the second time i have requested for 2 first class redemption tickets on the same flight & jet has accomodated me both times....i love this airline....

Just FWIW, one can confirm 4 F seats without any interaction on a a certain large airline with hubs in FRA/MUC, and that too, using other alliance's miles...Jet makes me WL for more than one, that too in biz.

(When taking the family on an award trip, one does not want the tension of not having a confirmed seat! :) )

i agree....i have redeemed 2 first tickets on ba a number of times....have never had any problems....

with jet, i have never had a problem redeeming 2 business tickets....have never been on waitlist....but its great that there were able to get me the 2 first tickets in both instances, specially when they are going above their usual policy to do so....

I always try to do it online, so thus eliminate the idiotic Bizarre Stuff that sometimes comes out of JP...

Yes, but you fly them a lot more than me! :p

I give my biz to the other carrier mentioned, as it is much more beneficial!

Usually Jet is quite good with confirming closer to the date and goes out of their "way" to do so...

However, do *note* that they themselves dictate the minimal possibility to redeem award seats in numbers per flight, and then appear to be generous later! :p

same here....even i always redeem online....

i think this is key....you know you travel too much when you start to remember the names of the people working at jp....:D

very true....

As i use AA miles for Jet Redemptions, i appreciate that JP FFers have the option to WL for a reward seat and also understand that they would like to hold onto the seats (hence why they only offer 1 seat in F) but how about if 7 days before the flight, the seats are still available, they should offer another one in the redemption bucket so that it can also be booked through a partner.

Depends whether they wish to follow the SQ or the US airlines approaches to such award availability...

Wanting to get both me and wife into Jet F but unless they adopt a SQ style policy of releasing another seat as soon as one is taken, its not gonna happen unless i whup out my credit card.

That always doesn't happen on SQ, unfortunately...

In any case, your cc will be "damaged" quite a bit, once you whup it out! :p

I have been after two F seats for over a year now.... Always have to settle on Biz.

For those who have managed to get two, did you manage this through points or wait listing through a paid business ticket?

1. Grab the first F seat online using JP miles.

2. Grab another seat (in biz if available) online using JP miles.

3. Waitlist for the next one through JP, saying you already grabbed the biz seat and are really looking for the F seat for your companion.

4. Of course if you are buying J seats, then you can confirm 1 pax upgrade into F if it's available online and then waitlist the other, using either miles or vouchers, for both upgrade operations.

i have requested a second f ticket twice & both times i got it....have used miles for both tickets both times....i used the online redemption option to get the first f ticket & then put in a request for the second one....about 2 weeks before my flight they called & confirmed the second ticket....

Recently I asked them if I could ticket one and if they could waitlist the other one. Was told that no wait lists were allowed on miles only tickets. They were only allowed on upgrades done through vouchers.

In fact I was told this 3-4 times by different JP agents. So how exactly have you guys done this?

that's very strange....i have never been told this....but i do always ask to speak with a manager when i call jp about any special request....i put the request in & wait for them to get back to me....it has worked both times for me....the last time i had to wait about 10 days & this time i waited less than a week....