よろしくお願いします JMB Forum & Question about USA Transfers
 

Hi JMB Forum,

ANA defector here. No status for me anymore, I live in Japan, want to fly on a quality airline to the USA every year, and ANA's cost cutting, especially their underhanded checked baggage policy changes over the past two years and the loathsome 10-across Y on the 777-300ER is driving me away from them (although their service is still very nice, in fairness).

A couple of questions:

-What are the best airports to transfer at in the US? Specifically, which, if any, allow for transfers between intra-US flights on AA/B6 and international flights without requiring another TSA lovefest? I do know I'll go through security again after arrival immigration regardless of airport, but I've avoided it before on the way back to Japan at airports like SEA and IAD in the past. I know from experience JFK is NOT one of these, at least for JL-AA-JL. I prefer not to transfer in the western US to avoid transcontinental flights on AA.

-I have a NRT-BOS-DCA-DFW-NRT itinerary coming up and would like any advice for transferring at BOS/DFW. I assume I have to exit terminals to transfer to/from JAL at BOS, but it looks like it may be easier at DFW.

-I'm guessing JL keeps large numbers of seats under OLCI/airport control, based on the seat maps I'm looking at for my flights. Is this true? I'm counting on OLCI to get me out of middle seats :/

-It's unlikely I will have a shot at any kind of status on JL, but possibly may fly to the US three times this year. Thus I will try to purchase tickets directly from JL wherever possible and may qualify for bottom-tier elite.

-I have the JMB WAON and might want to re-open my UFJ bank account so I can apply for a JL credit card. Is this worth doing for non-Japanese citizens or will my application just get denied? If worthwhile, what's the best card to apply for for those with no past Japanese bank issued credit cards? (Apologies if this is more appropriate for another thread, will ask elsewhere if needed)

-Anyway, my experience with JL over the last year has been positive and I'm looking forward to flying with them again. I'm not asking for much, just decent in-flight service and more room in Y than NH.:):):)

It's funny that when I first came to Japan in 2003, JAL was the behemoth airline of Japan and ANA was the quirky upstart. Now it seems the roles are reversed, at least somewhat, outside of JAL still having no idea how to speak English :p

DFW and ORD are 2 off the top of my head if you don't want to go through TSA security check when connecting from AA domestic to JL international flights. But I would pick DFW over ORD esp in Y given SS8 is used on DFW route.

Thanks! I'll go through DFW both ways next time if things go smoothly there. Actually, DFW's the biggest airport in the US I've never been to.

Also, bookmarked your website for future reference, JALPak. :)

ORD is a lot more compact than DFW. Last time I flew through there, my AA domestic arrival pulled in literally right next to the waiting JL 773 at the end of concourse K.

I believe BOS, JFK, LAX and SFO are all no good for security-free connections (although LAX should improve in a few years). That leaves SAN which is not exactly a great AA hub...

Except you probably don't want to go through ORD during winter due to weather. There could be another option other than ORD and DFW soon if JL is to launch another US route ;)

I believe the connector at LAX will still require security check between terminals but I could be wrong.

I love connecting at DFW. The Skylink train is very quick and easy and connects all the terminals inside security.

In a month or two LAX is supposed to finish construction on a corridor that will connect AA's main terminal to the international terminal so you can change terminals without leaving security.

BTW, welcome to JL! I flew ANA for a year in 2010 but came back to JL because I found ANA disappointing.

My co-workers love ANA and are forcing me to fly it in late February... I of course prefer JL.

I assume they're:

(a) not flying in Y
(b) not owners of large Samsonite clamshell suitcases that exceed ANA's stupid restrictive baggage dimensions (but don't exceed JAL's)
(c) big fans of NH's United-like cost cutting

ANA used to be awesome. Now - not so much. I blame Jeff Smisek's Star Alliance Good Idea Fairies.:mad:

Wow...did not realise ANA has such a restrictive baggage dimensions...

Regarding the credit card...the following link might be helpful
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...mr-points.html

The OP is right. JAL and ANA have experienced a complete role reversal in the last 10 years. In the past, JAL was the behemoth with mediocre service while ANA was known for better quality. Now the opposite is true.

ANA is really a behemoth these days, though. I have tried to switch to JL in the last couple of years but still have to fly ANA quite a bit, simply because they offer far more travel options than JL on virtually any city pair ex TYO. (There are some city pairs that are almost inaccessible on JL... TYO-SEA comes to mind, where you have to interline on either AS or VX.)