Seat selection with JAL Vacations?
Jul 3, 2022, 6:42 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SAN, TYO, OSA
Posts: 252
Seat selection with JAL Vacations?
Has anybody tried JAL Vacatoins? Does it offer the same seat selection freedom as normal bookings? Unfortunately, seat selection before payment happens without validation the FFP elite status, so I can only see non-status type of seat availability. To make it worse, there is no mention of free cancellation within 24 hours like normal bookings through U.S. carriers/OTAs, so I cannot making any dummy reservation.
Jul 5, 2022, 9:06 pm
#2
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: SAN, TYO, OSA
Posts: 252
I tried emailing JAL Vacations and got a very polite informative response. They say I can call them after booking and seats should be generally selectable based on my elite status, but at the same time I cannot manage reservation on the JAL reservation page (bummer).
I needed a bit unusual J routing, for which AMEX don't have any offer. JAL Vacations was tempting because it was ~600 dollars cheaper (with a 1-night of stay at a cheap hotel which I would just ignore) than a regular booking of the same route on JAL.com and it is more trustworthy than obscure OTAs. Later I changed my mind and needed a multi-city booking which JAL vacations cannot do, so just decided go with an obscure OTA with a terrible BBB rating this time. At least the ticket was issued, and I could select the seats I wanted..
I needed a bit unusual J routing, for which AMEX don't have any offer. JAL Vacations was tempting because it was ~600 dollars cheaper (with a 1-night of stay at a cheap hotel which I would just ignore) than a regular booking of the same route on JAL.com and it is more trustworthy than obscure OTAs. Later I changed my mind and needed a multi-city booking which JAL vacations cannot do, so just decided go with an obscure OTA with a terrible BBB rating this time. At least the ticket was issued, and I could select the seats I wanted..