Seyan

Just a "silly" (?) question:
Currently JAL (and mostly all other airlines) only use half of their seats ( https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/info/202...tml?inbound=ar ). I suspect that this restrictions will be extended for a longer period.
What happens with a booked out flight (or travel class)? Half the travellers must be removed from the flight... how do they choose who has to pass on their flight?

CPH-Flyer

For the current period until June 30th, most people will have cancelled their flights, and new booking will be very low so the problem will have solved itself. Even coming through July I am quite sure it will solve itself, as travel restrictions don't seem to be easing in many countries yet. Any international flight not already booked to 50% in Y and PY, problem solved, any international flight booked more than 50% in Y and PY, as the restriction does not apply to international business and first class, a few lucky souls will probably be upgraded to make this work. Should it come down to it, the usual logic of how to handle an overbooked situation will apply. Though I expect that it will relatively soon be changed to "To the extend possible due to the booking level".

Tokyoite

If the scenario comes to it, they bump these. The priority order is unclear, of course;
- pax with lower status/no status. (obviously),
- pax with no connecting flights (bump those with simple one leg flights, easier to rebook)
- solo travelers (easier to rebook one person versus a whole group)
- tickets in the lowest fare buckets.

GrandMoffJoseph

Sorry, if this is a dumb question, but:

I've learned that I need to sign up for JMB in order to view award seat availability on JAL and its OneWorld partners. Fine by me.

But looking at their site right now, it looks like my choices are: *JMB Bank Card, or *JMB Bank Card with Visa function O_o?

So...is the "bank card" just like signing up for a basic miles account with AA or Southwest? Or am I signing up for an actual banking card or something?

CPH-Flyer

Are you starting from this link? I don't see any JMB bank card options here.

https://www121.jal.co.jp/JmbWeb/AR/E...696.1536110730

GrandMoffJoseph

Ah, thanks for that link!

I originally went through a link I found on JAL's homepage, which brought me here: https://www.jal.co.jp/en/jmb/index01.html#apply

That's what got me tied up with the whole 'what card do I need?' question. But thanks for setting me straight.

HnDsolo

Hi to all JAL experts.

New to aviation discussions and to Flyertalk. Please excuse my novice errors.

Just wondered if you had some tips or comments on effective procedures to secure departing-day upgrades (to J-class or F) on domestic flights. (so-called walk-in upgrades???)

Provided there is availability and there are no special conditions due to the ongoing pandemic, does it simply work on a first come / first served basis?
Check-in time limitations? (namely: possible to request an upgrade in the early morning hours for a late afternoon departure, if you are already at the departing airport)
Any digital or 'non-physical presence' way of upgrading?

Is it short of 'day-dreaming' to expect an F upgrade on Okinawa or Fukuoka routes? No status whatsoever, so I guess I would be classified 'B category' on a waiting list.....
Personal experiences during COVID-19 times?

Any comment will be very welcome.

Thanks in advance

Pseudo Nim

J class is easy - 1,000 yen gets you a seat if available. Waitlist exists, usually prioritises JAL elites. Normally the elite heavy routes never have space (ie Okinawa) but it may be different now. Not sure how they are doing social distancing too - maybe keeping one seat empty?

F can be had for money the same way, but it's rather expensive and hasn't been found to be worth it. There are no free upgrades to either J or F.

lcpteck

True, I've tried it once for the new A359 unfortunately most domestic routes are too short to enjoy it hence not really worth the money.. J is fine if you manage to get upgrade, I like it for the elbow space.

CPH-Flyer

There is no alternative to asking at check in, or doing it at the kiosk when checking in.

It is possible to do day of departure with some luck. If there are open seats, it is literally first come first serve. The balance will be do you want to come early to try to secure an upgrade, or do you want to come relatively late as the airports are not that exciting places to wait. If there is a waitlist shortly before boarding starts. If I remember correctly S is for Diamond, JGP, One world Emerald, A is for Sapphire, JGC, Oneworld Sapphire, B is for Crystal and Oneworld Ruby, so you probably be in group C or something like that. Within the groups there are probably ranking as well.

Is it worth it to try for F? Everyone has their own scale for that. For Osaka I'd say no, not really, though I have done it. The space is nice if you need to work on your laptop. Fukuoka, I would probably try to get it, Sapporo probably also, for Okinawa I try every time, if I don't book it to begin with.

Class J is a no brainer if you ask me and I will always book Class J to begin with if I can. No matter how short the flight is.

Tokyoite

It is possible, with strategy.
Haneda T1 South wing counters opens at 6am sharp. Airport itself opens at 5am.
Be at the counter by 5:50, ready to book using the self service machines and you will get any available F seats for upgrade at 8000 yen cash.
Go that early in the morning and upgrade flight at the counter, then go back home for breakfast and whatever, then come back to airport later in the day for your flight.
Done it several times already (despite being a Diamond myself), and it is bulletproof, because you get it done before any Diamonds and JGCs have even gotten to the airport.
its the only way to beat the crowd, and surprise your GF/wife/BF/husband later in the day.
(of course check that the flight you are on actually has F seats on sale!)
Other way is to look up the Japanese blogs to find sellers who provide this morning-in-person upgrade service. Anyone with your names and PNR can use the self service machine to upgrade, so there are people who sell the service of going to the airport for you. You pay them 10k and they pocket 2k yen.
Popular for Fukuoka and Okinawa (to secure the return leg upgrade while traveler still hadn’t departed tokyo) and Haneda (due to the cut throat demand).

freed0m

The things we do for a more comfortable journey.

may I ask whether it is always 8000 yen, no matter the route or the ticket type(award or revenue)?

Thanks

minizian

Personally done this "go early to the airport and get upgrade" and proceed on my daily life before returning to take the flight. People in Singapore will refer this mindset as "Kiasu" or scare to lose lol

Its hard to get any upgrade at all even for J if you arrived in airport 1 or 2 hours before departure as by then the seats were snapped up, even after putting on waiting list.

For some reason, during the last year Sept typhoon I managed to upgrade myself to F to Fukuoka 1 hour before departure after queue up at the ticket counter for 1 hours plus (it was a day after typhoon landed and all services was restored). Initially wanted to get the A350 flight (it was just launched one week before) but end up re-booked the wrong F flight with 777 instead. Service is good but the problem is as per other the flight time were too short to enjoy. I not sure if it is enough to enjoy F flight to/fro Naha.

I think HND-ISG route is also the route that required one to be early bird to secure the J seats too. I had to be on waitlist till the last moment able to board in J (pay the 1k JPY right at boarding gate)

CPH-Flyer

Is it really worth all of these efforts? Almost all of the Okinawa flights will be on wait list the day of departure, so status is going to win over early risers anyway.

I am surprised that anyone would pay for a upgrade service, a lot of people already feel that the 8K yen is doubtful whether it is worth it, and then adding the cost of a surrogate in the airport, in my opinion someone would have to be pretty desperate to do that. It is a roughly two hour flight, how much is the F seat worth?

Always 8,000 yen, unless you have already paid the 1,000 for class J, then only 7,000 additional. The value is transferred when going from Class J to F.

Tokyoite

Well, when you live only 30 minutes away from HND, have a car, and want to earn brownie points with the miss, doing the early morning dash to the airport and back isn't too much of a hustle.
Traffic is non-existent, HND parking is free for the first 30 minutes, so in and out before I need to pay parking, and I will not have to do the "will the upgrade clear or not" Russian roulette game.
11K sakitoku, 8k F upgrade, meaning 19K in F for 2.5hrs flight is still cheap enough to kick start a Okinawa weekend getaway.
I don't do this for CTS/FUK or ITM. Too short to make sense in F.
the things we do in the name of travel enthusiasm!