lax.sea.jnu

I have a ticket on JL (booked as a partner award) VVO-NRT-SEA in January, on a Sunday. A few questions:

1) I'm expecting that JAL will not by flying to VVO by January. Has anyone seen any indication otherwise?
2) I also see that JAL is not currently operating NRT-SEA on Sundays. I'm assuming that if this flight gets cancelled, I can be re-accommodated on the NRT-LAX flight.
3) Assuming the VVO flight gets cancelled, I will be on my own to get from VVO to NRT. There is an Aeroflot flight that is currently operating on Sundays, so this looks promising. However, will I be able to transit NRT on two separate tickets? I don't see anything on Timatic that would indicate otherwise, but it would be nice to have something confirming this is possible to point to when checking in with Aeroflot at VVO to ensure I am not denied boarding.

CPH-Flyer

Separate ticket transfer in Narita is still possible.

Aeroflot is in T1 and JAL is in T2, but there is an airside bus running between terminals.

I am would probably not trust checked luggage unless you somehow get this issued as a single ticket

kentauta

I am also planning my winter trip with JAL. I tried calling JAL to ask when they would release their intl schedule for Nov and onward, but they couldn't tell me when. Interestingly, business class is completely zeroed out for LAX-KIX for Nov-Jan while economy is wide open.

On the bright side, Japanese government is currently drafting plans for relaxation of some COVID-19 restrictions. Not sure if any intl route will be resumed as a result of that, but it's not bad news.

CPH-Flyer

I guess the next schedule update is awaiting the announcement from GOJ on border measures. I can't imagine that the border measure will be significantly eased within 2021, so my best guess for November and December schedule is roughly same as now.

lax.sea.jnu

Thanks for the helpful input. I guess I'll have to wait and see for a month or two as schedules get finalized. I suppose traveling via ICN is also an option because S7 is operating a VVO-ICN flight on Sundays.

PVDtoDEL

At least you have until January.. I have a partner award VVO-NRT-BOS booked for the end of October, and starting to get a little nervous about whether JL is actually going to fly it.. I'm really surprised we're already in mid-September and JL hasn't updated their October schedule yet.

CPH-Flyer

They published the schedule for VVO in October on the 28th of July. The route is not operating in October

https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/info/2021/inter/211001_03/

lax.sea.jnu

There is still inventory loaded on October 31st (only), in the event PVDtoDEL is referring to that particular day.

CPH-Flyer

31st of October is specifically excluded from the announcement. As that fall under the change to the winter schedule.

lax.sea.jnu

Thank you. Any idea when the winter schedule will be published?

PVDtoDEL

Correct, my ticket is for 31OCT. Judging by how empty the seatmap is, I wouldn't be surprised if I'm the only booking on the flight.

kentauta

I am also waiting for the winter schedule. My google search shows that Nov-Jan schedule was announced on Oct 6 last year. However, the situation is quite different this year. To name a few: U.S. just announced border policy changes. Japanese PM will step down in a few weeks. He will be visiting U.S. before that, and might take homework on the border situation back home. There is some rumor about relaxation of COVID restrictions as Japan expect to vaccinate everyone who is interested by November, and COVID cases have sharply declined. Btw, ANA recently announced frequency increase and resumption of some routes for the winter.

kentauta

It looks like VVO-NRT is now zeroed out from Oct 31 to Jan 31, inclusive. Not very good news. It seems the JAL has been incrementally zeroing out different routes in the past few weeks.

CPH-Flyer

Usually a sign of the next schedule announcement being close, and what it will contain.

kentauta

Winter international schedule has been just released: https://www.jal.co.jp/jp/en/info/202...service/#inter