Hi all. trying to wrap my head around some of the verbiage in the Wiki.

"As a non-status passenger (or Ruby member), you can only select the following business class window seats
From second row onward of second cabin on the 767, 787 and 772 (excludes all of the forward cabin window seats and first/exit row of main cabin)
From second row onward of main cabin on the 777W (excludes whole of mini cabin and first/exit row of main cabin)"

I am booked on AA8407 LAX-NRT (operated by JAL) in R class. The flight is operated by a B787-9 and expertflyer shows business class as 7 rows, in a single J cabin, in a 1-2-1 configuration. The AAgent was able to get me seat 3D but did state "all of the windows are blocked"

When I view the flight in expertflyer, I can see my 3D is "occupied." Rows 1, 2, and 3 show the windows "blocked" but the windows in rows 4,5,6,7 do NOT show blocked.
I downloaded the "check my trip" app from Amadeus, and when viewing the JAL PNR (because their own website can't do it), ALL of the windows in rows 1-7 show blocked.

I will hit AA Gold / OW Ruby this month and am trying to figure out if any windows on this bird will become available to me based on Ruby status. The wiki doesn't address the 787 variants thus I'm confused, as its all 1 J cabin.

The other question I have relates to on-line checkin. My first leg is JFK-LAX on AA, so I'll check in with American. Since I can not view the seatmaps for the JL flights on AA.com, I assume I'll just be issued boarding passes for the JAL flights with the seat assignments that the AA res agent got for me. If I can't change these JAL legs seats during OCI, is my only option for a seat change to go to the JAL gate in LAX?

thx!

The specific aircraft configuration did not exist when the wiki was written. You aircraft is the Sky Suite III with a J cabin between doors 1 and 2. Generally, I am not actually fully certain how accurate it still is, but as I never fly AA codeshare on JAL my ability to test is rather limited. JAL does tend to block window seats quite a bit. I would expect seat selection to be an option for OLCI, in the distant past when I actually did fly AA codeshare, it was. But there is no knowing how much has changed since then. Otherwise yes, at the JAL gate.

sounds good, thanks for the quick reply! I will wait til the Ruby status posts, and then message AA on twitter and see what happens. I have a seat already so this is kind of a first world problem.

I'm on one of those NYC-CGK J fares & had a $400 AA flight credit to burn, so I was limited by R availability on codeshare flight numbers so I could use the voucher, and NRT connections (wanted to get to Jakarta in one swoop). I may monitor for R class on other routes incase better equipment presents itself. Live and learn.

Food Options
 

I purchased a ticket through AA on a JAL flight and they had no problem assigning me a seat over the phone. Where it gets tricky for me is how are you supposed to select things like food? No combination of names/confirmations seem to give me access to the reservation on the JAL website.
Also, since I can't check in via JAL's app/website I'm assuming I need to do it in person.

Assuming you are referring to the meal reservation for regular meals, codeshare passengers are not eligible.

I ended up re-ticketing this (originally JFK-LAX-NRT-CGK) and got on the nonstop JFK-NRT on the 77W instead, in seat 9K. better seat / product all around. thanks again.

My upcoming JL flight HND-LHR was redeemed on AA miles. Then I called AA customer service to have the FF number be changed to my AS for OW Emerald benefits.

When I went on the JL website to retrieve my reservation using the needed confirmation code, I noticed under
Passenger & contact information
Related services
Membership program, Membership number
that my AS number is there, but the program is not. I don’t know if that means it’s not in the JL system.

But I do see
Flight information
Services (seats, in-flight meals, optional extras)
Select your seat
Request in-flight meal

The OW Frequent Flyer Benefits on JL are listed at
https://www.jal.co.jp/en/oneworld/jmb_benefit.html
No preferred seating it would appear though.

What class are you in? The emerald benefits basically narrows down to what seats you can or can't select. The seats are not marked as preferred, only not available for selection with the same colour scheme as if they were taken when you don't have access to them.

T. I see green up until row 24 (but no aircraft information or seating chart explanation).

If you are on JL44 you are on a 777-300ER, if you are on JL42 you can be on a 787-8 or 787-9. There has been some random reports on 42 getting the 77W as well, but it seems to be random cases, and nothing officially scheduled.

The good rows on the 77W are 23 and 45. Though do be aware that the middle section of both are also bassinet positions. Though 45 seems more commonly used for this.
​​​
18 and 45 on the 787-8, bassinet is 46 here. Row 45 for the 787-9 with a bassinet row in 46.

Other seats are pretty much the same with 34" pitch and 3-3-3 on the 77W and 2-4-2 on the 787. The 77W does have a single 2 seater in row 27 right in front of the lavatory though.

Adding a datapoint. Booked O on AA codeshare on JAL out/in of HND. Departure in a couple of weeks. A quick call to AA, and my seat is reserved for both in and outbound. AA plat btw if that helps.

I booked J tickets using AA miles and I was able to select seats for all my previous trips using JAL's website and PNR, but it says no seat selection for my current trip. Is this something new?

Award flights booked using AA miles are not code share flights to my knowledge, and people have been able to select seats on JAL's website. My upcoming "paid" trip on AA code share flights operated by JAL cannot be retrieved on JAL's website using JAL's (Amadeus) PNR, and I needed to call the TA for seat assignment.

​​​​​​It should be possible to select seats. Unless all selectable seats are taken, or they are planning to change the assigned aircraft config.

I never had problem assigning seats on AA/JL codeshares pre-Covid but I'm seeming to have a lot of issues with a newest booking. AA Ex Plat line has just spent an hour trying to figure out how to assign seats. JL keeps rejecting the seat entries :( We've talked to both the helpdesk and the liaison desk and still no resolution. Just a heads up for any brave souls thinking of booking a codeshare!

The only problem I had was deciphering the reservation number and flight number from my Alaska Airline and American Airlines flights. The Flight Number was "2" for me. After I figured that out, I went on JAL's japan website, went into managed booking, entered in my details and I was able to select seats. This was all in economy. This occurred today.

Just figured it out today that in order to select seats on award booking using AA miles was not to login on your JMB account but instead, go to your region's site and plug in the information. I was able to select seats on my flights for November with DCA-MNL route.

AA EXP here and curious - Is this still working? I was trying to access my reservation on the Malaysian Airlines website earlier today using both the AA & JL record locators and it kept erroring out saying it couldn’t locate any reservation. As a last resort I tried bringing up the reservation using the 001 ticket number and that didn’t work either. Did Malaysia Airlines turn this workaround off?

I read the thread several times. Booked on AA, have my JAL record locator. Have tried to log into the JAL web site multiple times but always get the error "unable to find booking". Tried my first name and then JamesTheodore in the first name field all without success. Any other suggestions?

You need to assign seats through AA if your flight is AA coded.

Spot on. Adding to this, AA agents can see and assign specific seats on JAL flights.

But the comment in the wiki thy OWE has access to all seats is generally not true. Row 5 is off limits until OLCI it seems.

I am on an AA award J ticket on JAL to HND later this summer. AA provided me the JAL PNR which I used online to select meals and seats. I was able to secure the much desired row 5 seats on the JAL 777 without any issue. I have rechecked often and all remains as selected. Not sure why you can't select seats at JAL online. Be sure you're using the JAL locator vice the AA locator - they are definitely not the same.

You are on an award, that's not a codeshare. Award bookings are always on the native flight number, so they work differently.

Just double checked my reservation confirmation email, I have both a AA & JAL PNR along with the AA codeshare flt # but it does say flight operated by Japan Airlines. I compared this to a similar email confirmation codeshare AA/BA RT flight from DCA to INV. They are almost identical, minus the specific flt details.

It is not a matter of a difference in the booking confirmation, or the structure of the JAL PNR. A codeshare booking and an award booking are two different concepts. And they have different implications for seat availability and seat assignment process.

Booked two F seats for this May through AA. I can book my seats through JAL and it says ticketed but when I pull up the reservation there's no e-ticket number anywhere. Should there be a ticket number through JAL or is the status: ticketed and ability to choose my seats good enough?

If issued by AA you have to go to AA to see the e-ticket number.

I just looked up our reservation on AA and it says ticketed but there's no ticket numbers listed anywhere on the reservation page, confirmation email, etc.

All it says is status: ticketed. Gives me the confirmation code for AA and JAL and we were able to choose our seats on JAL's website. Should I be concerned there's no ticket number on either AA or JAL?

If it says ticketed it should normally be OK. I can't remember the details of where AA puts the e-ticket numbers on the confirmation emails. Though if you booked via phone agent you normally get a confirmation email for the booking, and a second email once it has been ticketed. I can't remember if that is how it works for online bookings as well. It has been too long since I booked something that was possible to do online. But as issueing agent, AA should definitely have sent you something with the e ticket number on.

If the ticket number can make you feel better, and you would like to get it without calling AA, there are a few things you can try. (CheckMyTrip by amadeus was probably the easiest, but the recent redesign eliminated useful info like that.)

One way is to enter the amadeus PNR on different airline websites hoping at least one of them shows your itinerary with the ticket number. For example, finnair 's eticket receipt is pretty comprehensive.

Another thing you can try, if you are willing to do a bit of hacking, is to examine data sent by the airline website to your web browser using the browser's debug feature (press F12 in case of Chrome) when the itinerary is obtained from the website. Both aa.com and jal.com transmit lots interesting data to the browser though it doesn't display them. I don't have any active reservation with JAL right now, but I have a BA-issued ticket with a mix of BA/AA operated/coded flights, and aa.com shows the ticket number without the IATA airline code (the first 3 digits) like this:

I have a booking made with AA with two JAL segments and one AA segment. Only the AA segment can be accessed in manage booking on AA site.
Tried entering the JAL info given on their website and cant find the booking. JAL asks for flight number and date as well. Tried both AA and JL equivalent, no luck.

If your Japan Airlines flights are AA coded, you will likely have to call AA to get seats assigned.

Any tips on how to get through?
Tried calling and get we are too busy and a hangup, no option to hold.
Also love the part where it tells me seats can be done online...

Edit: Called AA and asked to make a reservation, was allowed to stay on hold until agent answered.

I am stuck in this loop as well. On expert flyer, seats in row 5 look blocked but only one booked. AA says all are "booked." Can't call JAL to move to this row.

AA can't see the difference between a blocked seat or a booked seat. You will have to wait until online check in to pick anything that remains in row 5.

Am in the same boat here. I take it, if it's a jal ticket but booked through AA we are SOL till check in?

Booked through AA isn’t an issue as long as the flights are JL coded. If it’s AA coded, you will need to ask AA to assign your seats or wait till check-in opens.

Got it. My trip info shows JAL. How would I go about assigning seats? Best seat on the 787 in business?

Get the JAL PNR from AA, then login to JAL MMB site to pick seats available to you.