JALPak

Fumitani is relatively young but not a Diamond so probably not him...Now should we all be worried about someone will come pay us a surprise visit if we announce when we will be in the lounge

JALPak

He is a BA Gold

Simmo

The funny thing was they told me other Oneworld airlines do provide priority tagging for elites however JAL doesn't. Such a weird thing to stay. I'm only aware of them doing it internationally and Qantas seem to do it domestically. Anyway isn't an official benefit but their reaction and reply was rather strange.

JALPak - Anything is possible... it's a small world so you won't need to announce you'll be in a lounge. If you're under 60 i think you'll be a dead give away. Oh and i know you'll be the one stuffing your bag full of rice crackers. lol

Anyway the only way to justify the extra cost flying JAL is if you're A) desperate to fly with them B) need their points or EQM C) you really need to fly OW.

fumitani

This is true, but it doesn't mean I won't be in the lounge . I actually prefer to upgrade short flights to F!

I almost always fly Premium Class (on NH) or class J between Osaka-Tokyo(of course depends on upgrade chances by money).

Simmon we will someday run into each other. If either one of you drop by Osaka make some time (when I am around) to drop by so we have time to catch up.

At this point in time the only reason I find flying JL would be schedule(but almost on all routes JL and NH fly nearly identical times). NH usually wins, but even if NH was 1000-2000yen more expensive I choose NH.

NH miles are good for odd routings. You could never issue one JL award ticket for. KIX-BKK(TG)-KUL(LH)-SIN(SQ)-HKG(UA)-ICN(OZ)-KIX(OZ) using five airlines. OW redemptions are not good in this one. Although the only advantage I see JL has is that award space is easier to come by

JALPak

LOL I only do that on the plane not at the lounge...If you ever see someone keep taking the snack, take every amenity item and don't use it, and take tones of pictures of the meal...then it's me! I can't wait to meet some FTers on my flight . Since I am only a JGC Sapphire, you won't see me in the Diamond lounge and age won't be a dead give away at Sakura lounge. And I probably will let my family use the lounge this time and I stay outside so if you see someone walking around and visit every Blue Sky store at the airport, that's probably me too

For me, I am desperate to fly with JAL so justifying the extra costs is not a problem...but for my family, they are not...Instead of justifying the extra cost, I ended up moving the dates around to make JAL the cheapest option (and luckily I have reasons, or should I say excuses, to delay the trip)

JALPak

By the way how come both JAL and NH have only one daily ITM-CTS flight in the morning? Other JAL flights to Sapporo all departs from KIX and NH's departs either from UKB or KIX...

Simmo

Why not take a train from KIX to NGO? Plenty of flights from NGO to CTS a day.

I really wish they would have some food or something in these domestic lounges even the Diamond lounge. Where did i get this idea there were bagels in the lounge? What was I smoking?

Great you can sneakily rearrange your travel to suit your preferred airline. I must admit prices from CTS or anything flying into HND anytime up to 1 week before stay pretty constant at 15,000-17000 yen each way. I mean the best discount you'll get from CTS to HND is about 13,000 and that's a booking 2 months in advance so it's a pretty good deal. If you look at CTS to NGO or CTS to KIK or IZO (my favourite place) then you're looking at anything more than 25-30,000 one way a month out. Huge difference right?

Sky mark and Air do remain cheap but only fly out of Haneda which is a shame. I can't understand how they keep the prices down yet offer the same services as JAL and ANA. Are we being ripped off?

JALPak

Because the NGO connection is not included in the package I can only go through Osaka or Tokyo and do free stopovers there.

They don't called LCCs without a reason...they probably have lower labor cost and if they only sell tickets online, that will save money too. Single aircraft type will save money on parts inventory/training...these LCCs have all sort of ways to cut costs with legacy carriers can't...

fumitani

I remember there was a perimeter rule from ITM. I have to go back and check this. CTS I believe was grand fathered in becasue the flight has been operating before they implemented this.

Also I believe the reason for only one flight a day (with JL operating that small commuter aircraft in the afternoon) is because of slot restrictions. I don't know if they have changed it, but ITM is only allowed 200 slots a day. It's believed that they have 220ish right now (being forced to downsize).

I forget specific details, but this should be a rough summary of stupid. NIMBY! ITM NIMBY are super hard core. They were complaining before KIX opened that ITM is noisy and too small etc... Now once international flights moved to KIX they are complaining ITM has lost too many passengers and their sales/income has drastically dropped. Then those NIMBY's want the airport closed. No one could ever please those ITM NIMBY'S!!!!!!!!!

fumitani

Simmo btw how many PP's do you have already?! I'm still sitting at 1600 on both JL and NH each

doesn't look like i'm going to exceed 5000pp this year combined . I'll be using up my precious expiring ff miles first

Simmo

So far it's a disaster - 2300 ANA and JAL 500 or something i think. I think my gf will kill me if i go ahead with the master OKA > HND plan but i really want to. I think i'm going to be a die hard ANA flyer and i'd most defiantly want to hit the SFC well before i want the JGC. I was so jealous when this guy pulled the JGC application out of his bag that he once again hadn't bothered to even open as he claimed he was mendokusai. I was trying to find out why he wasn't a member which i thought was strange.

Anyway i'm still worried that something might happen to the programs however willing to take the risk but the ten million dollar question is will my gf forgive me.......

JALPak

It's probably cheaper than 10M dollars to go on a vacation with your gf and attain status together. E.g. a romantic get away to Paris, followed by a shopping trip to NYC, etc

fumitani

I would say that is a more expensive way. Since all costs are multiplied by 2! I would say just do the HND-OKA run's. Your gf will understand the benefits of *G once she has it also. When you do get the SFC card, apply for the supplimentary card for your GF and she will enjoy all the benefits you enjoy minus the yearly upgrade points.

I would say she won't understand how important SFC is until she has one.

Remember you get to keep *G status for roughly 100USD a year. You always get Lounge access and priority baggage and extra baggage allowance.

If that is not enough last year I got 2 op-ups on CHEAP tickets

Also some minor point. You have a tollfree number instead of paying to call ANA . If you get the Gold card then you get tollfree for everything including the call to Creditcard

Simmo

Sadly have to tie the knot in order to get a sup card as they are very strict about family only for sup cards. I was going to ask whether sups get same benefits. Do they need to provide like 100 point ID check? Like could you sign your mother up who lives in another country or would she need to show id in Japan to get card? Probably could still provide enough ID from overseas anyway.

My gf is all about CHEAP like it's really annoying. Everything must be cheapest. I'm over it i mean like a man has got to have some fun once in a while. You know? Have a bit of a splurge here and there. She's naturally in love with Air Do and Sky Mark who i refuse to fly out of fear i might also fall in love with them.

I just saw JALPak's latest post http://jal-pak.blogspot.com/2010/05/...-its.html#more .... this guy rang me to tell me his flight was redirected (obviously now i realise why) Interesting.

fumitani

Are they that strict about it?! I'm not sure myself because I issued cards to all my family members(all same last name). Mom/Dad/Brother/Sister. Although my brother and sister will eventually get kicked out (by me once they get married)

Yes they all receive the same benefits minus the yearly upgrade points, calender and diary. You should be able to sign up anyone in your family with the same last name at least. They didn't ask for any extra form of ID for my family members.

I don't think it would hurt to give it a try. At least if you qualify get your mom and dad a supplimentary card. The benefit (if they use it once a year) will already pay for itself (less than 6000 yen/year). But remember to becareful with the creditcard because they get access to your full credit amount.

Maybe you should take your gf on one of the trips to OKA one weekend and show her the grand fun of everything (get Premium Class lounge/bigger seats/priority boarding/priority baggage/first off/free food/free newspapers/free beer and etc...). But the first time just stay overnight. Then the rest of it do the turns. Girls have a hard time understanding the likes of guys and guys have the same problem understanding girls with shopping.

If you guys have seperate bank accounts or something. Just do your turns during the weekend(on your money and she won't know how much it costs). As part of your reward for working so hard. I can't give a good excuse to for you because I went out of my way getting this card. My friends thought I was stupid and crazy for wasting so much money/time doing this. But once he went on enough business trips (paid by his company) and he qualified for the SFC card I told him to get it. Now he understands why I got the card. He was so happy he could get his bags First Class Priority/Lounge Access when flying Y. Now he doesn't call me stupid and crazy but thanks me for it and asks me how to benefit from the card. ^

You should read about the maintenance problems JAL faced in 2005. JALPAK will tell you all about it.