lcpteck

I plan to try out this Explorer Pass or the Oneworld Yokoso Pass. Are award international flights eligible as well or it must be a revenue based flight?

JALPak

Award ticket is fine as long as it is an eligible routing.

ZKOKA

Keep in mind that for the "oneworld Yokoso" you'll need oneworld flights to and from Japan (no revenue ticket requirement), while for the "Visit Japan" (Y 14,400 per segment) and "Japan Explorer" (Y 10,800 per segment) this is not required. The latter is bookable online, advance seat reservation is not available with this fare though.

lcpteck

Thanks for the feedback.

lcpteck

I notice that you need either an existing Roundtrip, Circle, or Open Jaw ticket to be able to book this Explorer Pass.

I'm thinking to book award flights BR SIN-TPE-CTS, return on SQ KIX-SIN. Technically these are 2 one way tickets. Would this be eligible or the whole itinerary needs to be in 1 ticket?

I'll be purchasing Explorer Pass for CTS-KIX.

JALPak

You should be fine as long as they are booked under a single PNR.

ZKOKA

The booking form allows you to enter two seperate PNRs / ticket numbers for inbound and outbound flight and the T&C state "return to country of origin", which I would assume is the intention of the round-trip/OJ requirement. I have booked a total of three tickets, each under a separate PNR, to/from Japan [BER-HEL, HEL-NRT, KIX-BER] and do not expect to get into any kind of difficulties during check-in.

JALPak

You could have different ticket numbers for outbound and inbound flights even when you are booked under a single PNR. That's why you are provided two fields. The T&C says

Your fares are most likely one-way if you are booked under different PNRs unless you do two bookings like LAX-NRT//HKG-LAX and NRT-HKG-NRT. They could technically say you are ineligible.

ZKOKA

That's a small risk I willingly took. I think "a return ticket leaving Japan" pretty much clarifies the intention of the round-trip ticket requirement. Especially for non-JAL and non-oneworld tickets, I honestly don't see why they should be extremely rigid about this. Technically you are probably right, although I fail to see where the PNR requirement is coming from.

JALPak

Well, few years back JAL agent was rigid when I tried to book Yokoso with 2 one-way award redemptions (weird that he asked if I was on AA awards though, not sure if there was an exemption for that). Remember you are dealing with a Japanese company which rules are rules. In this case, I found most check-in agents aren't familiar with these yokoso/japan pass fare rules so you may get lucky. But don't be surprised if you are asked to pay for the full fare at check-in

ZKOKA

Just curious, what precisely did they verify? At check-in, you handed them a piece of paper, they looked at it and acknoledged the booking? With the rigid agent, you encountered your problem already at booking?

"Note: Only individuals residing outside Japan with a return ticket leaving Japan are eligible to purchase Japan Explorer Pass fares."
"International air fare must be Round Trip, Circle Trip or Open Jaw (Return to country of origin...)"

Just based on this information, it still isn't 100% clear to me what the actual requirement is I hold a return ticket. OK. I hold three tickets that form a round-trip. Not OK? I hold award tickets, where the international air fare is technically zero. Now what? Restriction does not apply? Tickets do not qualify? Must all flights of that air fare on one ticket? In one PNR? I guess you get my point. The rule is not as precise as one might think. Maybe I'll give London a quick call, explain my situation and ask for their view of things.

JALPak

It was at booking time so I ended up buying a regular domestic ticket from jal.co.jp.

They would verify with your passport and e-ticket. I've been asked only a couple of times after tens of trips with Yokoso but not recently probably. Not sure if they will be more strict on this pass which is based on non-oneworld ticket.

ZKOKA

Okay, we're still in Japan, that means verifying an e-ticket is looking at a print-out of an e-ticket confirmation. I'll just print all e-ticket receipts on one piece of paper and that's that.

lcpteck

I just booked and ticketed a domestic CTS-ITM operated by a B738 under this fare (G fare code) for my travel in May 2017.

I had 2 separate PNRs so keyed in the individual E-Ticket numbers for my below respective flights.

BR SIN-TPE-CTS
SQ KIX-SIN

Will see how it goes as I'm supposed to print out and show my international itinerary during check-in. Will try to arrive early to see if can upgrade to J Class for the JPY1K.

This will be my first domestic flight in Japan.

Frayed_Yak

I'm a little confused as to the purpose of this pass. When i checked HND-CTS and HND-FUK, both seemed to be cheaper than the per coupon price in the pass.

Is it usually the case where the pass is much cheaper than buying a domestic ticket off JAL's website?