th14

I'm trying to book 2 seats in F for Emirates JFK to MXP. Emirates is showing space on the dates I want at their lower rate (flex at 135k miles) Alaska is showing space for the same dates. Called JAL and they said no space showing for the outbound I want but the return is available.

The day before is available so I went ahead and grabbed that space along with the return I want.

JAL suggested I keep calling back but has anyone ever seen this space 'refresh' on JAL system. Its obviously available as I've been doing the search for several days as I've been waiting for Starwood points to transfer to JAL. The 3 days before I want keep showing up at the lower amount on EK while the 2 days after show space but at EK's higher mileage redemption.

So am wondering if EK is not releasing to JAL or more likely its a computer glitch where available space is not re-freshing on the JAL side.

nabeelj

You want to look for EK Saver space, which should be similar (but not necessarily the same) as what partners have access to.

AS is well-known for phantom availability on EK.

I'd suggest using ExpertFlyer or QF to search for EK award space.

EDIT: Happy to search ExpertFlyer for you if you don't have an account, just give me your dates.

th14

Thanks very much for the kind offer to look it up.

I thought the 135k was the saver space (that's round trip on the EK website). There are other flights quoted at 217k miles round trip.

Just checked QF and it's showing the same dates as Alaska and EK. So right now, just JAL not showing the same space.

Been meaning to sign up for an Expert Flyer account so maybe this will be my motivation. Or at least do the free trial. I'm still waiting for the final batch of miles to transfer over. Looks like only a part of my points made it over on the Tuesday night JAL sweep. Might not be able to book until next week.

rinipiyan

I am trying to fly LAX-DXB-BEY with a stop in DXB. Does JAL allow one way stopover?

nabeelj

It's a distance based chart, so stopovers are fine.

rinipiyan

Thanks for the response I was able to do a stopover after HUCA.

When I called JAL US number to book my EK flight, the first agent was an American accent guy [redacted]. He was very rude, kept interrupting me and sounded annoyed when I try to break up the segments. In the end he straight out said that JAL doesn't allow me to stay in DXB for more than 24 hours. F that guy.

I called again in and a lovely lady answered, she was very helpful and found the flights I wanted plus 35 hr stopover in Dubai.

himomer

Any recent datapoints on how far out JAL can see EK space. I thought it was 330 days but I was told by an agent it was 180 days. I have a few test dates and will HUCA but wondering if others have had issues booking ~300 days out?

lemonyng

Just to confirm, by booking F class via JAL, does it mean that the chauffeur service and lounge access will be unavailable?

CPH-Flyer

For chauffeur services, you should check with the EK forum. However as a booking will be with an EK flight number, I would expect so. Lounge access you will get for sure.

stargold

EK Chauffeur is only available when on a paid ticket, or a redemption/upgrade ticket issued by Emirates or Qantas.

JL redemption tickets on EK do not qualify.

There is anecdotal evidence of being able to go to the chauffeur counter upon arrival at DXB and getting a car, but I have not checked this myself. This will not work for car journeys to the airport, and arrival at outstations.

cdancer20

Is this still true or more info on this? I was trying to redeem points on EK and the person told me I had to have a marriage certificate. I'm booking a flight for my honeymoon so I, of course, won't have the certificate until right before the trip. If it helps, my fiance and I actually do live together.

finloopio

So even if I am on the reservation, JAL will not allow me to book an award ticket to take a friend along? This seems bizarre.

JALPak

Friends are definitely not allowed per the T&C

cdancer20

Update. I did a HUCA and they still told me the same thing. Even though I was booking a ticket for myself, they required a marriage license since our names are different. It didn't matter that we were getting married 2 days before the trip and couldn't wait to book it. (Fear of award flights being gone by then.) CSR told me that they have had a lot of fraud with Emirates so they had to enforce it. I wish that I would have paid attention to this before transferring points from SPG. I could have moved points to his account and then did separate JAL bookings.

DDResq

I've never flown EK and am trying to figure out availability back from my honeymoon in SEZ on JAL award ticket. My fiance are flying at the end of August/beginning of September and would love to do something along the lines of SEZ-DXB-MXP-JFK (stopover in MXP) or SEZ-DXB-ATH-EWR (stopover in ATH). A few questions:

-What fare buckets does JAL have access to?
-Is there anywhere besides Alaska and/or Qantas to search availability?
-Does Emirates release awards one seat at a time (like CX does on close-in booking)?

I have been trying to piece together the information on EF with the availability I am seeing on Alaska and Qantas but cannot figure out the correlations and what awards JAL has access to. I apologize if these questions have been answered, but I looked and cannot find the information. Thanks in advance.