I had a look on NH Website, but they don't have F on the craft they use between LAX and NRT :(

But its only operated by a 777 which doesn't have F..

Any other suggestions?
We've looked at CUN-JFK-YVR-HKG-NRT on CX, but CUN-JFK (AA) arrives only an hour before JFK-YVR and the same with YVR-HKN (with only 1 flight a day we have to spend a day in NY and a day in Vancouver, which is a bit of a waste).

Basically we want to get from CUN (or SJU or BDA) to Tokyo on first without using AA.
JAL would be the obvious answer, but somehow F is not available on the RTW ticket!? I've even tried alternative dates randomly (and far into the future) and are getting the same response from travel agents...

Why can't you book in F on JL?

Can you add SYD to your trip? :p (MEX-DFW-SYD-HKG-NRT) Depending on when you're flying you'd book into J on DFW-SYD but sit in a F seat. SYD-HKG could be in F. HKG-NRT would be in J. Or MEX-DFW-LAX-SYD-HKG-NRT although that is getting up there on segments.

An AONEx requires A fare availability which JL does not often release.

Booking J on QF DFW-SYD would be a real waste on an AONEx ticket, far better to fly from LAX-SYD/MEL on QF (or direct to HKG on CX).. Also adding in Australia would bump it up from an AONE4 to AONE5. Also I believe all the QF 744's flying DFW-SYD have Skybed mkII installed, so no old F seats.


To the OP, you may want to look in to an ExpertFlyer subscription. You can search for fare availability to find A availability on routes, as well as many other useful features.

JL is rather thrifty in their allocation of A availability oftentimes.
Adding SYD would add a continent to the price.

What about MEX-DFW-ORD-HKG-NRT?

True. Although the OP might want to add a continent if he wants to see Australia and it gets him in F across the Pacific. Although finding F award space on QF is going to be hard.

Hi Guys,

We ended up making the booking as per our original intended itinerary and got waitlisted on the JAL flight. Our travel agent then liaised with JAL in UK who in turn liaised with Japan.

Eventually they asked us to motivate why we wanted to be on the flight along with our job titles, credentials etc. We obliged with an added "Avid Flyertalk contributor who is keen to document and experience the highly praised JAL First Class product."

2 Days later our flights were confirmed!

Interestingly, the all new JAL First Suites on the JFK-NTR route was rolled out only days before, so maybe that had to do with the fact that our flights were finally confirmed, but I like to think that mentioning Flyertalk made all the difference!

Publicity positive/negative always a nice carrot/stick worth mentioning, but perhaps you convinced them that your personal status was high enough not to sully their first-class cabin?

Ha ha! You have a point, I suppose when you have a certain standard to uphold you'd want to somehow "screen" passengers. Would have had a very bruised ego if they turned us down though...

One last question.

We've got our itinerary sorted and ready to pay for the flight, but my travel partner might have to go to Jakarta & Singapore (business related) around the time the trip ends. So we were thinking of just extending the trip and in stead of HKN-JHB we go to those destinations before flying home.

The only problem is that we won't know until a few weeks before we leave in Sept. Would Oneworld allow you to ad flights at a later stage after payment?

We were thinking of booking it anyway (just in case), but the problem is that if we don't go we'll have to change those flights back and might not get the good seats (or any seats) on the HKN - JHB flight.

Sure, if you haven't used your 16 segments (or bumped any continental limit) you can add. USD125 plus additional fees should cover the damages. They tell me you can even add another continent if that strikes your fancy, supposedly at the price in effect for the original ticket.

Thanks for that. I can rest easy now! :D

This seems a ridiculous process to go through to get an A class F seat released.

So do all their F class sell out at F prices?