JAL award availability
Jul 10, 2016, 8:04 pm
#301
formerly gemini573
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: LAX, HKG, and BKK
Programs: CX Emerald, WOH Globalist, Marriott Platinum, AA Lifetime Platinum, Virtuoso, Prive, STEPS, STARS
Posts: 2,233
Just an observation but I'm guessing the people that keep asking when JL releases jcl and fcl seats are AA redeemers.
Jul 10, 2016, 8:55 pm
#302
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,187
Sep 18, 2016, 2:34 pm
#304
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: LHR
Programs: AA
Posts: 773
I have two award flights coming up next month (SFO-HND, HND-SFO, both in F) that I booked 330 days out. However I am attempting to extent the trip by about a week, which means changing the first flight to an earlier date. I have been checking for general award availability over the next couple weeks and I think my chances of finding my desired new date with 2 F are at least fairly decent, once we get close enough for that flight to have award space made available again. (I'm estimating about 10 days out or less.)
My question is this: are seats made available at the same time of day they are 330 days out, i.e. 10am JST? Or is it more scattershot than that? I'm wondering if I should be checking at that exact time, ready to book, or if I'll just have to be checking multiple times a day in case space opens up.
Anyone have any direct experience with this?
My question is this: are seats made available at the same time of day they are 330 days out, i.e. 10am JST? Or is it more scattershot than that? I'm wondering if I should be checking at that exact time, ready to book, or if I'll just have to be checking multiple times a day in case space opens up.
Anyone have any direct experience with this?
Sep 18, 2016, 5:40 pm
#305
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
I have two award flights coming up next month (SFO-HND, HND-SFO, both in F) that I booked 330 days out. However I am attempting to extent the trip by about a week, which means changing the first flight to an earlier date. I have been checking for general award availability over the next couple weeks and I think my chances of finding my desired new date with 2 F are at least fairly decent, once we get close enough for that flight to have award space made available again. (I'm estimating about 10 days out or less.)
My question is this: are seats made available at the same time of day they are 330 days out, i.e. 10am JST? Or is it more scattershot than that? I'm wondering if I should be checking at that exact time, ready to book, or if I'll just have to be checking multiple times a day in case space opens up.
Anyone have any direct experience with this?
My question is this: are seats made available at the same time of day they are 330 days out, i.e. 10am JST? Or is it more scattershot than that? I'm wondering if I should be checking at that exact time, ready to book, or if I'll just have to be checking multiple times a day in case space opens up.
Anyone have any direct experience with this?
Sep 18, 2016, 9:30 pm
#306
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JAL Metal Card (OWE), SAS Eurobonus Gold (*G), Marriott Titanium (LTP), Tokyu Hotels Platinum
Posts: 21,187
Sep 18, 2016, 9:38 pm
#307
Ambassador: Japan Airlines
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: JAL Mileage Bank, JMB Diamond, oneworld Emerald, Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 16,400
Sep 19, 2016, 6:11 pm
#308
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: HNL
Programs: DL PM/1MM, BW DE (lifetime), HH DE, Marriott PE (lifetime), National Emerald Executive
Posts: 7,205
Sep 19, 2016, 6:32 pm
#309
Ambassador: Japan Airlines
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: JAL Mileage Bank, JMB Diamond, oneworld Emerald, Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 16,400
Oct 7, 2016, 6:39 am
#311
Ambassador: Japan Airlines
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: JAL Mileage Bank, JMB Diamond, oneworld Emerald, Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 16,400
Oct 25, 2016, 6:51 pm
#312
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Tokyo
Programs: JGC premier
Posts: 349
Planning to book an award ticket for TYO - ORD/JFK near year end next year. i found an interesting article saying that the best way to secure hard-to-get award availability is to book through JAL plaza in Yurakucho as you can tell all the details and 3 different routes/preferences to the customer service after they open at 9:30 am and wait for the request to be sent at exactly 10 am, vs. internet which requires you to find the slot one by one, then input your details before the seat is secured, or phone which can get busy near 10 am or (for Tokyo based people) gets rerouted to Osaka service center which is located away from server in Tokyo and might lose the request to Tokyo based service centers (assuming the requests are sent at the same time). Has anyone tried this? Never really tried making phone award redemption at 10 am before, how busy does the line gets at the diamon/jgc premier line?
Oct 30, 2016, 9:05 pm
#313
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Toronto
Programs: HGP Globalist, SPG P100, Hilton Dia
Posts: 425
I am trying to redeem 2 JL J seats from NRT-LAX/SFO. I have been checking the availability 330 days out consistently but it only shows 1, 4, and 4 seats for business, premium economy and economy respectively. Does anyone know if the 4 business seats as mentioned are only available for JL members? If not, is there a way to redeem them? Thanks!
Oct 30, 2016, 9:18 pm
#314
Ambassador: Japan Airlines
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: JAL Mileage Bank, JMB Diamond, oneworld Emerald, Bonvoy Platinum
Posts: 16,400
I am trying to redeem 2 JL J seats from NRT-LAX/SFO. I have been checking the availability 330 days out consistently but it only shows 1, 4, and 4 seats for business, premium economy and economy respectively. Does anyone know if the 4 business seats as mentioned are only available for JL members? If not, is there a way to redeem them? Thanks!
Nov 29, 2016, 6:18 pm
#315
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Oakland
Programs: AA Explat, UA former 1K + PremExec, DL
Posts: 1,151
Here is the definitive guide to booking JL award flights using partner miles such as AA and BA. And yes, you are doing something wrong, but only because you don't know all the details and intricacies of booking JL awards.
Flights load into inventory 330 days out at 10am Japan Standard Time or 6pm Pacific Daylight Time (to the second). Revenue inventory and award inventory load at the same time. I can only speak to the JL 61 (LAX-NRT), 62 (NRT-LAX) and JL 1 (SFO-HND), 2 (HND-SFO) since those are the only routes I look at, but I expect other routes to be similar. JL 61, 62 loads 2 F and 2 J seats while JL 1, 2 loads 2 F and at least 4 J seats. What's crazy is that the award seats are available to partner redemption online before they are available online to JMB members. What I mean by this is that while the award seats are available to partners online at 6pm PDT, they aren't available to JMB members online until the next day at around 10:30am PDT. I do not know for sure if you are able to book the seats as soon as they load using JL miles by calling JL, but you definitely can't do it online.
Like others above have said, The best way to check award inventory is the BA site. The info on BA is real time while others above have mentioned that the calendar view on the JL site is only updated once a day around 10:30am PDT (timing varies widely day by day...can be anywhere from 9am PDT to 12pm PDT). The real time inventory on the JL site is only available when looking at specific dates.
The fastest way to get awards that I know of is to use the BA site and book directly through BA using Avios since everything can be done online. The pro to that is that you'll probably beat anyone trying to use AA miles, the con is that you'll have to pay fuel surcharges. If you are using AA miles, you need to anticipate the awards loading into the system at 6pm PDT and time your call with AA to coincide with 6pm since you can't book JL awards online through AA. The pro is that there are no fuel surcharges, the con is that your wait time to talk to a CSR is variable.
All of the above is only for booking JL awards 330 days in advance. The award inventory is usually available for about 3 months, then it goes away. After that, award inventory is very sporadic especially for popular routes like LAX-NRT and vice versa. The only thing to do is check everyday. Inventory does tend to open up close to departure. They will usually release award seats for any remaining seats except for one. If inventory is showing F3 the day before departure, they will usually have 2 seats available for redemption. I have never seen them release the very last seat.
I hope that helps you out.
Flights load into inventory 330 days out at 10am Japan Standard Time or 6pm Pacific Daylight Time (to the second). Revenue inventory and award inventory load at the same time. I can only speak to the JL 61 (LAX-NRT), 62 (NRT-LAX) and JL 1 (SFO-HND), 2 (HND-SFO) since those are the only routes I look at, but I expect other routes to be similar. JL 61, 62 loads 2 F and 2 J seats while JL 1, 2 loads 2 F and at least 4 J seats. What's crazy is that the award seats are available to partner redemption online before they are available online to JMB members. What I mean by this is that while the award seats are available to partners online at 6pm PDT, they aren't available to JMB members online until the next day at around 10:30am PDT. I do not know for sure if you are able to book the seats as soon as they load using JL miles by calling JL, but you definitely can't do it online.
Like others above have said, The best way to check award inventory is the BA site. The info on BA is real time while others above have mentioned that the calendar view on the JL site is only updated once a day around 10:30am PDT (timing varies widely day by day...can be anywhere from 9am PDT to 12pm PDT). The real time inventory on the JL site is only available when looking at specific dates.
The fastest way to get awards that I know of is to use the BA site and book directly through BA using Avios since everything can be done online. The pro to that is that you'll probably beat anyone trying to use AA miles, the con is that you'll have to pay fuel surcharges. If you are using AA miles, you need to anticipate the awards loading into the system at 6pm PDT and time your call with AA to coincide with 6pm since you can't book JL awards online through AA. The pro is that there are no fuel surcharges, the con is that your wait time to talk to a CSR is variable.
All of the above is only for booking JL awards 330 days in advance. The award inventory is usually available for about 3 months, then it goes away. After that, award inventory is very sporadic especially for popular routes like LAX-NRT and vice versa. The only thing to do is check everyday. Inventory does tend to open up close to departure. They will usually release award seats for any remaining seats except for one. If inventory is showing F3 the day before departure, they will usually have 2 seats available for redemption. I have never seen them release the very last seat.
I hope that helps you out.