CPH-Flyer

It is not applicable to the year you qualify, but a benefit for the year you have your status. Qualify for status in 2019, the campaign is available from April 2020

SDUKAG

Derivative 'What's the best seat?' question here, but I have tried and failed to find an answer on these boards and elsewhere.
On the 788 apex suites with the two cabins (1-3 and 7-8), where would you choose?
I realise the window seats are best and everything except row 2 is open. Advice appreciated!

Tokyoite

Could you qualify what you consider "good" on a flight?
e.g. Solo traveler versus a couple/two travelers, or do you prefer sleep to staying awake and drinking/dining?

SDUKAG

Absolutely: solo traveller, this particular flight I expect I will be will be about 50/50 between awake and asleep but I value privacy regardless.

CPH-Flyer

There is no simple answer to the question to be honest. It is not like BA where there are two good seats, and the rest range from mediocre to bad. The differences between the seats are rather minimal, so it depends on personal preferences.

Generally i prefer to be as far forward as possible, so row 1. However, if I fly from the US to Japan 1K,from Japan 1A. When I fly to Moscow 3 or 7 on the K side. Back from Moscow 1A. As you can probably guess, the preferences does actually not come from the specific seats, as they are too similar to matter various other factors weigh far more heavily.

SDUKAG

Thanks for the reply, CPH-Flyer. Time to micro-manage my seating choices a bit less!

Jinxed_K

Has the 'display seat map' link always been available on the booking webpage when you're selecting the fare?
I've always had to start a dummy booking to get the seat map, but I just noticed the link shows up before you get that far.

CPH-Flyer

That's definitely new. But please be aware that it does not show the seats based on your status, but just based on the fare level. So if you are buying the cheaper booking classes but you are Diamond or OWE, you don't see all of your seating options. But as you have not picked the specific traveller at that point, it kind of makes sense to do it this way.

This functionality like this has been on the ANA website for ages, so I guess JL wanted to offer the same as the home competition.

Jinxed_K

Ok, so it's not my memory that's failing as I get older. =)
I understand it's not what I'll be able to pick when booking, but it does give a fairly general idea of how open/full the plane can be. I've seen people post the actual fare buckets from Experflyer(?) but I think that's the paid part of the service that I don't have.

CPH-Flyer

Expertflyer and KVS are the main tools they use to give specifics. I have not really found enough use to pay for these subscriptions yet. But maybe when I get to a point where I have more time to redeem my miles it will be quite helpful.

hkgphooey

Flying SEA > NRT on a J Aadvantage award, departing 2.25p. My inbound flight on a different carrier lands at SEA at 12.01p. Seems pretty tight for international check in. So my weird question is: can I check in to my JAL flight at JFK somehow, before I depart for SEA? Or... has anyone ever successfully done OLCI on an international partner award? Both things seem iffy to me. Thanks!

CPH-Flyer

You can do online check in for JL, but the JL counters anyway only open 3 hours before departure, so you are not there that late in the check in process.

That being said, if your inbound flight is on a seperate ticket, I hope that is a carrier with a good on time performance, as any delay that causes you to miss the connection will be at your own risk. And you would either need to find new award availability, pay for a last minute cash ticket or cancel your trip.

What carrier are you flying from JFK?

hkgphooey

Thanks for the info. Flying JetBlue, JBU63.

nearlysober

Despite the fact that I use SEA all the time as my base airport, I'm woefully uninformed about whether or not we have self-service check-in kiosks on that side of security, because I never connect there But if there is, you could possibly check-in and print a pass there. If they need passport verification, both JetBlue & JAL operate out of the A Concourse at SEA, so they may be able to help you at the gate without going out of secure area. At the very least, since the gates are in the same concourse, you could always check to see if GA's can check you in... i've never really tried that with any airline.
Worst case scenario, you have to run outside security to the JAL check-in area, which is near the A Concourse, then back through security... which should be possible.

All options should be possible in the time permitting assuming you arrive right on time - but any delay may be problematic. That flight does seem to have a pretty good on-time performance.

phonehome

Quick question: Do "J-Air" operated flights earn FLYON points?

I'm considering booking one as part of the JAL Explorer Pass (with a 4-digit JL flight number), and on the various JAL webpages they don't specifically mention J-Air anywhere in terms of FLYON earning. It seems to be somewhat of a mystery how it fits into the "JAL group" that they define.