ecgz88

sorry I searched but can't find the answers, so how many days JAL open award seat? is it 330 days.....if I phone JAL to book QANTAS or CX, will that go for 353/360 days?

Many thanks!

RealHJ

Log into your JAL account and go to book an award. JAL says it right on their site up until what date the flights are bookable at the moment. It is 330-331 days (if I am not mistaken, 330 days US time, which is 331 days Japan time as of 10am JST). Not sure about other airline awards. But again, just log into your JAL JMB account online and it clearly says when you go to book up to which day you can book at the moment. JAL JMB is very transparent about this.

ecgz88

so JAL is not like Alaska? (http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....-330-days-out/ Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan can book seats on partners like Qantas and Cathay Pacific when those airline schedules open, even though Alaska’s own schedule won’t open up until 11 months out. Alaska members generally have no problem booking partner awards 355 days out, and then calling back to add connecting Alaska Airlines flights when the Alaska schedule becomes available — something in my experience that the Mileage Plan program allows members to do without even paying a change fee. )

Wasabi Tofu

Only 330days in advance (10:00AM JST), even parnter airlines' own booking/award systems accept a reservation before that time.

See
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/121awards/ru...r.html#amenity

ecgz88

Just figure out I should use JAL to book YVR-SYD stop(Qantas)-HKG-PVG stop(CX)-NRT-YVR(JAL), YQ should be low...or maybe use Asia miles which has 360 days advantage? but can't apply to JAL flight

BigMouthStrikesAgain

just a heads up. I found 2 first class seats. I am holding them. I am 75% this date will not work for my parents so I am waiting to confirm but I am sure they will be avail soon!

bluemeansgo

Has anyone ever seen KIX-NRT open up? I'm looking September and the only flights to NRT are ITM-NRT. Plenty of flights to HND from Osaka. I'm trying to make the return connection as seamless as possible for a NRT-YVR flight.

Oh... I just realized that I'm not posting this in the Avios thread. I'm going to go post it over there, but if anyone has any insight into when availability is opened up to OneWorld partners for domestic flights it would be appreciated.

JALPak

bluemeansgo

Whoa... you're right. It's all from Itami: https://www.jal.co.jp/en/dom/route/t...80109_20180228

And lots to Haneda:
https://www.jal.co.jp/en/dom/route/t...80109_20180228

I always assumed there would be JL flights between those two major airports, but with ITM and all the competition in Japan, I guess they figure they don't need it.

armagebedar

There are flights from the domestic airports (ITM, HND) to the respective international gateways (NRT, KIX) on JL/NH. The high-value domestic traffic is between ITM and HND, which are both closer to their respective downtowns. KIX-NRT is lower value and so is dominated by domestic LCCs.

bluemeansgo

ITM is closer to downtown, but in terms of travel time, KIX isn't much different as it has better rail/marine connections, depending on where you're at.

For NRT though... i completely agree. That airport is WAY too inconvenient, but welcomes a lot of international flights.

JALPak

Please try to stick to JMB award availability...

bluemeansgo

Fair enough. Actually regarding that, is there an approximate amount of JMB availability that they open up to partners? OR a time frame other than the 4 or so tickets for each flight 1 year ahead? It looks like they've essentially blocked off NRT-YVR for the entire summer until September 7th ( OFF PEAK season start ).

Just wondering whether to ticket the YVR-NRT now for an August flight in expectation of availability of an earlier return flight.

Will checking the JMB availability help me in determining approximate allocations to partner airlines?

RealHJ

I don't think it's blocked. Just booked. From my experience, many JAL flights will get booked within a few minutes (sometimes seconds) of being released at 330 days out. If you want a specific flight on a specific date, you have to book at 330 days out 10am JST and be quick about it. That is especially so during popular travel times. (So now is the time to book for December...the time to book for September has long ago passed.)

There can be more availability opened up as existing bookings get canceled (not sure does it always go back into inventory, but most of the time it probably does). Best way to get that is to waitlist. Also closer in more tends to be released, like a month, two weeks, one week in, depending on how full (or not) the flight is, more tends to be released closer in.

It's advantageous to use JAL JMB to book further out and waitlist. For very close in bookings you actually cannot book it with JAL, as they restrict it. Close in bookings for the next day or thereabouts you can only book with other programs. (I know, not logical...but that's the way it is.)

JALPak

You will need to check on the partner program's forum. We don't monitor their availability