Barkinpark

Hello folks:

I need to travel from the US west coast to 3 cities: HKG, SIN, and BKK this August. At the end of Sept, I will depart from BKK back to the US. Ideally, I will be in these cities in the above sequence.

I have booked one CX business class award flight (using AS miles) to SIN with a stopover in HKG. I am guessing that there is a chance of it being canceled by CX, and so I need to buy insurance.

So, now my only alternative is JL's (again, using AS miles) flight to SIN or BKK. I have some *A miles but their only saver award flights available are via TPE on Eva. This is not feasible because TPE does not allow transits.

So, my questions:
1. For the AS award flight on JL, should I book USA-NRT-BKK or USA-NRT-SIN? NRT is just a transit point for me as Tokyo is not open to tourists.
Right now, I think there is no difference between SIN and BKK as origins for HKG bound flights, in terms of quarantine treatment.
Correct me if I am wrong, there was a time when passengers from Thailand were totally banned from arriving in HKG, whereas those from SIN were required to quarantine.
So, it seems like traveling from SIN to HKG is a safer bet than traveling from BKK to HKG, correct?

2. Is JL canceling flights or biz award seats frequently like CX?

Thank you very much.

CPH-Flyer

The schedule for August is already adjusted for pandemic frequency reductions, so I would expect anything loaded now to be operated. Of course typhoons, technical issues, etc. can happen.

As for the best base for flying to Hong Kong, there is probably a thread in the Asia forums somewhere which would be a better source of information on that.

crackjack

Just to highlight, JAL had noted some exceptions:
While SG is not confirmed for these months yet, it should have at least one flight in, either the NRT JL711, or the HND JL35 or JL37; possibly one from each airport.

CPH-Flyer

I had not noticed that Singapore was pending still. But as a minimum, the July schedule will probably roll on, and potentially be increasing.

Barkinpark

I booked an award ticket with the NRT-SIN segment on JL. It's in late August 2022. Should I worry?

CPH-Flyer

I would not, JL711/712 was increased to daily in June, and also set as daily in July. I don't think it will be reduced again in August.

crackjack

Yea, if it’s 711, if you look on JAL, it’s the only TYO-SIN flight they are currently offering daily (though may not be the case once they look at loads in more detail).

The HND ones are the more uncertain ones in my mind, and given what CPH noted, it’s likely the one which may not make the cut is the overnight JL35.

cerberus435

You'll want to check with the airline about the canceling J awards part. I booked award J flights on JAL via ASA. There was a change to the itinerary recently where my connection airport was changed from HND to NRT. When I check my booking from the ASA website, it says that I'm in coach, but seated on J seats. When I check from the JAL site, it says that I'm in J.

Jaimito Cartero

They canceled our main flight (May 26) back in February. Had to replace a late morning AA flight PHX-SFO with a 5am PHX-DFW. And had to switch to AA metal to NRT. A big step down for JL 777 service.

CPH-Flyer

When you book beyond the 3-4 month period where the adjusted schedule has been published it is always a good idea to check whether the flights being booked have been operating so far. Beyond the adjusted period, the full schedule is loaded.

Jaimito Cartero

Well, we originally booked in October.

Business class tickets were pretty hard to find then. Later on, IN Feb/Mar I couldn’t find anything in coach or business from mid May until the beginning of June. The AA 787-9 plane was better than expected, although certainly a pain to backtrack through DFW going to NRT. The regional JL 787-8 actually had the best service, but worse seats by far. 2 - 2 - 2 layout in biz, and the narrow seats were just uncomfortable.