sulleymonster

Hello,

I'm new to award travel, finally made a leap to book a trip to Japan. Booked a DFW to HND on JAL using Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific) and repositioned a flight from CMH to DFW on AA using British Airways. I think a lot of these blogs and articles don't explain the logistics behind award booking when involving multiple segments.

I kept the itinerary to be within OneWorld partners hoping that it would be easier on my end.
1. Can these two flights combine into one PNR by calling someone? AA or JAL so that I don't have to pick up the checked bags in DFW when I'm transferring? I added 3 hours in DFW in case I have to pick up the checked bags and go through the Check-in / TSA at DFW.
2. Is there a way for the flight to show up and manage on the JAL and AA (operating airlines) app/website instead of Cathay and British Airways (booking airlines).

Looking for any tips and tricks on award flight involving multiple segments. Thanks

JayhawkCO

1) The PNRs cannot be combined. That said, AA and JL are interline partners, so you should be able to check your luggage through if you give the AA check-in agents the JL itinerary. (Looks like AA's policy doesn't allow for this.)
2) Yes. You need to get the confirmation numbers for JL and AA from CX and BA. Sometimes they're the same, sometimes they're different. I'm not a frequent OW flyer, so don't know the specifics on these airlines, but for instance I have a UA/BR/TG itinerary in a few days and UA displays the other airlines' codes on the Manage Booking page. You have two options: a) call CX and BA and they should be able to give you the other confirmation numbers, or b) go to the AA and JL websites and search for your reservation with the ticket number.

guv1976

Where did you get that idea?

While anything is possible, AA policy is not to through-check bags across separate PNRs -- even if both flights are on AA metal.

JayhawkCO

I didn't realize that. UA has no such issues and that's the airline I fly far more frequently. I'll edit my post.

sulleymonster

Thanks for the info. I should have plenty of time to pick up the bag and re-check for the second flight.

guv1976

What is your plan if your CMH-DFW flight is cancelled or substantially delayed?

sulleymonster

I have 3 other flights that I can make it to DFW an hour before departure so hopefully, it's not a weather issue.

guv1976

If you have to claim and re-check baggage at DFW, I very much doubt that arriving at DFW one hour before your JL flight departs will work. Have you checked the baggage check-in deadline for JL at DFW?

Many people advise that, when taking a separate "positioning" flight before a long-haul flight, you plan to arrive at the intermediate city a day before, in order to give yourself more of a cushion in the event of IROPS. Is your AA CMH-DFW flight available with Avios on the preceding day?

sulleymonster

Yes, there are several flights available the day before, thank you for the recommendation.

guv1976

If you cancel your existing BA reward flight on AA and rebook for the day before, you will only forfeit the $5.60 September 11 Security Fee which you paid at time of booking. That will be cheaper than asking BA to "change" your existing booking.

guv1976

One more tip. You would probably find AA miles to provide very good value for a CMH-TYO trip in Economy Class. AA does not charge extra for connecting segments, and does not collect any "carrier surcharges," except when traveling on BA or IB. So when low-tier award seats are available in Economy, you can get CMH-XXX-TYO for as low as 35K AA miles + $5.60. You would get to through-check your bag on such a ticket, and AA would protect you in the event of IROPS. Examples below for October travel:

sulleymonster

I had to do some manual updates to get the JL ticket booked via CX to show up on the JAL app.
The problem with me was the CX/Asia Mile membership number was transferred directly to the membership number field on the JL side where it supposes to have a JAL Mileage Bank number. This was causing the booking not able to retrieve on the JAL app.

Steps I took to fix this.

1. Go to jal.co.jp website. Change language if necessary.
2. Scroll down to Manage Booking
3. Select International Flights
4. Make sure you are not logged into JMB or click on Continue as JMB member. Under the Non JMB Member, search for your flight, use your Booking Reference Number from CX in the Reservation number field.
5. Once the booking is found, scroll down to the Passenger & Contact information section and click on Related Services
6. In the Passenger Information section, the CX membership number is automatically filled in for the membership number under my name. Update the Membership number to your JMB number, and select Japan Airlines as the membership program. Scroll down and save the change.
7. After 15 minutes or so, the booking showed up on my JAL app.