CPH-Flyer

Had forgotten that one. First time I saw it in action. Or at least noticed it in action.

minizian

Hi, long time reader here this particular part of the forum. Thanks to the guides/post (thanks Jalpak, CPH-Flyer, Tokyoite & other posters here) I am currently basic Sapphire JGC based outside of Japan among the sea of JGC Premier and Diamond members

Barely scrape through the 50K requirement thanks to typhoon faxai (proudly being part of the 17,000 people who stuck in Narita Airport) messing the whole plan where I supposed to take long way round but due to typhoon, flights are full due to rebooking so I have to merge few segment into one which led to lesser miles that needed to be top up with random short flight here and there:

I did not want to create a new thread here so I just piggyback this thread instead, I have few questions:

• My understanding FOP only available if I am flying JL coded flight operated by themselves and code share flight (eg MH/CX/AA flight but sold as JLXXXX). If I fly MH flight by itself (not code share with JL), does that mean I only eligible to collect only regular mileage as per eligible booking class and not FOP (eg I am flying KUL to KIX with MH, with a MH ticket but flying as JMB member)?

• Since I am JGC Sapphire, should I stretch for JGC Premier for OWE or all the way to Diamond for 135% bonus mile? The only realistic possibility for me is JGC Premier by doing mileage run in PE KUL/ISG with 4 JEP flight to/fro OKA/ISG would only able to net roughly 25K FOP. I doubt I will be able to score good deal (especially JEP availability) with Nov/Dec rolling in soon. I not sure if it is worth doing it? Or I just leave it at Sapphire and save the money for next year instead if I am qualified with the 2x Domestic FOP.

• In Jal webpage, I am unable to book certain flight/certain day in multicity itin builder. It seems to be only allowing me to book from KUL to US destination (or Japan Dom flights) and vice versa. I will get error screen if I try to book into other city like Frankfurt/Helsinki/ London. I suspect this is due to Point of Sale restriction. Furthermore, there is no option to mix PE and EY on certain leg that does not have PE equip plane (I will get error in Multicity builder). Is like I only can book EY or BC and not in between (PE in one leg and normal EY in the other) if I search via main page. Is there anyway get over this restriction?

• Continue from above, the webpage only allow max booking of 2 flights per day. I can’t stack four flights into one day under one booking unless I am doing separate bookings. How do I get over this restriction? Being said, I missed the old booking layout for being simple and make thing much more smoothly.

• Any particular reason for the reason booking class revision in PE and also EY? I saw the lowest PE E Class with reduced mileage accumulation to 70% which may impact my future mileage run planning.

• Why next year doesn’t have CA Calendar, is it because due to the fact they are changing to new uniform in April hence they are not releasing it? Was really looking forward for next year calendar.

• Is Jal removing the “Pilot/Co-Pilot & Senior Cabin Attendant” plate near L1 where pilots/ chief will slide in their name plate into it? I used to see that often, my conversation with chief said it was being removed from all aircraft. Any reason why so? I think that is quite unique.

• My experience in EY/PE is being great for both soft and hard product. No doubt the best EY product imo. However, when I sat BC from Narita to KL I felt it was a mixed bag. I felt like certain small touches like crew intro themselves to you and service after main meal and prior to landing meal was slightly messy but the crew did apologize to me when I just give my feedback (where I need finish everything within 15 min before seatbelt sign as switched on as they forgotten my order until I reminded them which led them to quickly rush and serve me) but I doubt nothing will happen since I did not lodge official complaint or fill in the feedback form. Not sure if it is reduced service for regional flights versus long distance premium route or I just got an under-performing team on this particular flight. Not to mention on my past flights, there surely one or two CA was doing OJT for international route (“This is my first international flight”) in EY or junior crew who was newly assigned in BC. Is this normal or their standard which was still high for me went down compared to previously?

CPH-Flyer

Many questions, I'll try to break it down a bit.

You earn FOP on all JAL coded flights, depending on booking class.
You also can earn FOP with all Oneworld carriers. Though some are quite restrictive in terms of applicable booking class in Y. (hello Cathay looking in your direction)

In my opinion that's a lot of mileage running to achieve a status. Will your flying patterns change so you can achieve JCP or Diamond easier next year? Otherwise it is only for a one year status, or you'd need to repeat the mileage runs every year?

Abs will you if you do the mileage runs this year, truly fly enough next year to make it worth it?

It could seem that JAL has not filed fares from KUL to EU, since they are not bookable. But I am not sure here.

Break the day in to multiple tickets. I guess this is the domestic part.. Have you tried the JEP booking rather than the main booking flow?

I would guess a revenue to earning consideration. The miles being handed out cost too much compared to the revenue earned for JAL.

Since they have already shown the new uniform, and are in the process of making it, I guess they could have made the photo shoots with the new uniform, and added it from April forward. So that should not be a stumbling block.
Maybe they thought it a bit old fashioned to have a calendar with the female emoloyees. I guess they could do a male and a female version....
Lastly, maybe it did not sell well. Though I doubt it, it seemed to be the first one gone from the shelves in the Haneda shop.

I have not noticed this change. Though I'll start looking for it.
It is not unique to JAL, Lufthansa does it as well.

No doubt in my mind that JAL has the best economy class product. Especially hard product, but soft product is really good as well.
PY struggles a bit more in my view. I don't find the seats great. And the extras compared to Y apart from the seats are really limited. I find it more middle of the road.

There are sometimes in J where the crew are a bit disorganised, for me it has never really been when I have had FAs on their first J flight. I am guessing they are being closely monitored, and it can seem like their first flight they are an addition to the normal staffing levels
My guess has always been that the senior cabin attendant is new to that role. But I don't know.

Ncsu75

Will be flying US to Hanoi on JAL. Three segments are on 787 and one on 777. We are in premium Economy seats. Can anyone familiar with these planes comment on bulkhead seats vs regular seats. I am mainly interested in legroom. I have seen comments that there is more legroom than at the bulkhead than at regular seat, but Seatguru list the seats as having slightly restricted legroom. Any advice is appreciated.

CPH-Flyer

As usual searguru is worthless for non US carriers.

The first row on the 77W is by doors 3. Meaning tons of leg room for the window side pair. A bit less for the middle block.

The 787 first row seats also have a lot of extra space.

The seats have a legrest extending from your own seat and a foot rest from the seat in front of you. The bulkhead rows does not have the foot rest. But have space enough to use a trolley as additional footrest.

Ncsu75

Thanks for the information.

minizian

Yes after having a look at CX booking class it is quite restrictive. Heck even MH were reduced substantially (eg v class 100% accum for MH Enrich but in Jal it will be only 25% accum).

I am not really sure what stores for future as usually my travel arrangement were done last minute. Not to mention next year is Olympic from July to Aug and also E class devaluation to 70% Sept 30 2020 onward.

I wouldn't mind do one or two round of mileage run just to keep Sapphire status alive. My reasoning for this year is "since I am got Sapphire this year, why not stretch for JGC Premier" but I would need to fork out own $ to get there.

However, as mention earlier, I cant find any additional benefit for JGC Premier over Sapphire other than personalized luggage Tag Priority Boarding, First Class/Diamond Premier Lounge Access, mileage expiry date will be freeze, some discount if buy from Jal DFS enough to get me to spent the $ to do the run. Not sure if i missed out additional benefit. :/

Oddly even in ITA Matrix unable to find KUL to Europe via TYO, only able to get ANA rates with similar connection but at insane fare. I did not try with walk in travel agents as usually they dont waste time on it unless they are sure i will buy some tour package from them.

Yes it is for domestic segment, I usually add two domestic segment to my international flight as additional cost for dom segment were slightly cheaper than purchasing JEP. Not to mention it allowed to get on flight where there no longer availability for purchase in JEP.

Sometime JEP have this issue where if your flights over few days, the system will show error saying "flights were full" or "Flight not available" on certain date. However, if i do Search only for 2 flights in JEP on those dates individually. It will still show up and bookable without much drama.

I supposed so, this booking class is the factor that allowed to reach where I am now. The rate class and 100% Miles accumulation were the reason why I choose to take up JMB.

The Equivalent fare class & rates in MH only give you normal economy class while I JL it will be PY with lounge access and priority bag. Not sure how it will affect my planning for next year and beyond.

You reckon will they release later? Since they have release the remaining Calendar. Does the plane/classic calendar run out as soon it was released just like the CA calendar?

Managed to snag my self JTA table top calendar but would be prefer CA calendar for sure lol. Doesn't make send if they release it in April 2020 too

Pardon my ignorance, I did not have opportunity to take LH yet.

From my past flights obs:
Jal 777 & 767 - they have totally removed the place where pilot and chief ca put their name. the 777 still have "Ship No" and "This plane is based in Haneda/Narita"
JTA 737 - They still have it but Chief CA does not slide is name in. Only pilots does.
J-Air E170 - They are still using it on my flight.
JAC - Doesn't came across it at all. Perhaps no place to put inside ATR's

Somewhat I have to agree with your PY seat, I dont really sleep well when the seat was reclined at it max and somewhat uncomfortable to sleep. It was fantastic seat if I am not sleeping. Never had the chance to fully recline their normal EY seat as the person behind dont agree with me going all out wth the seat :/

In EY i once had an empty neighbor seat and having good time sleeping taking up two seats.

Would love to give the PY seat another shot during the red eye flight.

Fair enough, the flight where I experienced the mess, the chief looked quite young compared to the my previous flight where it usually some super senior (some are damn strict to me) who in the co for more than 20 years. Top respect to them who were in same co for like many years and not to mention those rare to find male chief crew who remind me of Chief Purser/instructor in "Stewardess Monogatari" and in "Attention Please" (No, not the Aya Ueto version. Its the 70's version where dvd was selling at 40,000 yen or more)

By any chance, have you ever being in a flight with multiple chief cabin crew (2 or more) onboard but wearing the normal black jacket? Any idea why that happens? Is it shortage of crew or rostering issue?

CPH-Flyer

If you have achieved Sapphire this year, you should be able to sign up for JAL Global Club, which keeps you with sapphire status as long as you pay 5000 miles should you fall short of meeting the earning requirements.

There is quite a difference between Sapphire and JGC Premier. As JGP you get access to first class lounges, think The Pier First Class if you go to Hong Kong or Qantas F in Los Angeles. Significantly better lounge experiences.

I don't recon the CA calendar come later. I was just saying the new uniform should not be a stumbling block. The fleet calendars don't seem to sell out quickly. Don't know if it is a Japan benefit, but I do get my fleet desktop calendar each year as a Diamond (or it is the calendar book that is Diamond and the fleet is JGC)

I would kit know what to look for to identify two chief pursuers of they are out of the white jacket. My guess would be that after the restructuring and reductions of routes they may be top heavy in the CA ranks. Or just a training/observation role.

minizian

Oh yeah, I forget to mention to you that I have enrolled into JGC. Just recently got my JGC Sapphire card via normal postage exactly two week after registered into the system (Personally hand in the form in local JAL office). Currently pending the luggage tag to arrive. Any idea how long it take to do? Do they send it via normal post or express post that require signature (past post here suggested some got it via DHL and some via normal post). The staff told me at least one month just to be safe.

I read about the yearly calendar thing that were send out in October on web page on "JGC for overseas based members". I not sure if I be eligible to it as my account was only updated to JGC on the 9th October. No idea if it will be bundled with the luggage tag.

Other the F lounge access (and earlier mentioned benefits), any benefit that might swing for me to go for it?

Usually Chief CA without their white jacket can be spotted with their while scarf. If they are in regular scarf you can see their name tag is slightly differ too (there is a silver line below their name). Personally I have not seen in this combo other than JAC/J-Air/JTA flights. Some of them have gold colored name tag too which denotes them as Manager rocking in both white and regular jacket but higher ranked than chief on paper. I have personally double check these with the chief and crew on my flights too and also Airstage for that matter I always curious how the team work when there are so many Chief's onboard as I assume each of them have some ego in it.

Interesting to see that there are chief that are quite young while some older crew are still standard/lead ca rank ("oh she is my senior"). Heck i would love to see how that dept work

mhy

There is also

* Priority waitlist for upgrades (domestic flights)
* Ability to book Japan domestic flights 2 weeks before non-Diamond/JGC Premier
* Ability to book the front row of each cabin in domestic flights
* Service Selection (~JPY 30000 value)

Being KUL based there may not be much value in these, though. Also some benefits seem to be restricted to Japan-based members, but I'm not sure which.

Personally if I go for JGC Premier, I would just go all the way to Diamond to get the 130% mileage bonus

sinecure

Are there any reports on what the Japanese Whisky has been on board in first in October?
Curious to know if I need to temper my expectations flying from SFO.

minizian

Hi, thanks for pointing out additional perks.

That 130% is absolutely tempting for sure but I not sure if it is possible to pull off 50K FOP since my KUL flight plus JEP allowance only give me 30K FOP max per trip (that is if all in Class J). Unless I do some crazy multiple

Not to mention peak season is coming soon too. Gotta make up my mind for sure to stick to sapphire or go all out.

mhy

Question regarding PE -> J upgrade inventory availability.

I'll probably have around 150k JMB miles by next March~April. I think that gives me the ability to upgrade 4 legs from NYC - Tokyo from PE to J. How far in advance do these get released, can I see / confirm the upgrade at the time booking? I will be JGC Premier next year, possibly Diamond.

SugoiHikouki

Somewhat related, do certain tiers of members get extra upgrade/award inventory? Also, are upgrade and award inventory the same?

CPH-Flyer

You can't see in advance if there is availability for an upgrade. But you can call and ask. If there is no availability you can waitlist for the upgrade. The waitlist holds until departure.