DONE4 and LONE4 - availability on JAL
 

Hey Guys,

I'm half way through a DONE4 trip, restarting it again shortly. My girlfriend has decided to come for the rest of my trip however she wont be paying the DONE4 price, so has settled on wanting to just travel in economy.

I recently changed some of my flights out of singapore and tokyo (as in, within the last 48 hours) and had no issues getting on a JAL flight. However for the life of me I cannot get the LONE4 to have availability on *any* JAL flight..

I cant get it on the singapore- tokyo leg or the tokyo-brisbane leg.

Any idea on why that would be? if I change the dates I still cant see it when booking economy..

I know the flights are there because I'm on them in business class... maybe JAL is operating a 1 cabin flight? :p



Cheers

Dates would help, but looking 2 wks and 2 months out shows limited availability in L.
May need to go via HKG. Some L class availability on some of the BA codeshares if you can book them.

2 weeks (23-Mar)
JL () 712 0 SIN 03/23/10 8:20 AM NRT 03/23/10 4:00 PM 777
C2 J2 D0 I0 Y1 B1 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

JL () 710 0 SIN 03/23/10 11:20 PM NRT 03/24/10 7:00 AM 777
98% / 9m C0 J0 D0 I0 Y0 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

2 months (9-May)

JL () 712 0 SIN 05/09/10 8:10 AM NRT 05/09/10 4:15 PM 777
C9 J9 D9 X9 I0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0 G0

JL () 710 0 SIN 05/09/10 10:40 PM NRT 05/10/10 6:45 AM 777
C9 J9 D9 X9 I8 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9 G0

Source: Expertflyer.
I recommend at least a one month subscription to help you search availability.

oops, forgot the important bits.

Singapore - Tokyo was 18 July - JL 710 departing at 22:40
Tokyo - Brisbane was 24 July - JL 761 departing 21:10

I will go subscribe to experflyer now I think..

I signed up to expertflyer (why I didnt do this before I dont know) and it seems like L availability is very restricted...

Any reason why this is the case do you think? Would JAL perhaps have less L than other airlines?

This is the big problem with OW products. They book in such a low booking class. *A is much better in this respect. JAL is not good for L availability but there are other airlines which have similar issues (like LA).

JAL Yield management.
Problem for LONE tickets is L is relatively down the value chain so availability gets taken quickly.

JL710 is L2 on 17 July.

Yeah this looks like it could be a bit annoying.

I guess I could book her on the flight via HKG on cathay, I dont really have too many other options I dont think.

I'm on the flight straight to Tokyo, I wonder if I could change mine again to be put on the same flight as her... the only thing that would worry me is it could result in a change and throw up a fee for me to pay?

Currently I'm on 15 segments, adding this puts me SIN-HKG-NRT so I'm wondering if it would be a routing change

Yes. A routing change so fees payable

Is the gf on a LONE4 (the same route as you) or seperate tickets or starting a LONE4 ?

She will be starting a new one...

Basically mine is paused in San Fran, and I'll make my own way back over there to restart it, whereas she will be starting a new one from Australia and joining me.

You may want to consider a LONE3 ex Asia and just buy Aust - Asia - Aust flights. But there are restrictions on flights in the starting continent. Or a LONE4 ex NZ

Ah we are actually going from australia -> north america -> europe -> singapore -> japan -> home

so not really too sure how I'll get around this. My only option is either change it to the day before or she can fly out at 10am and I'll amuse myself until the flight later in the night.

Is there any chance those L seats might free up you think?

Yes there is a chance. Just call and see what they can do. Maybe they open space. JL is happy about any revenue at the moment.