JAL vs AA vs Cathay
 

I will start to fly to Asia frequently (5 times a year) from BOS on JAL, Cathay and sometimes AA. All three airlines fly to my frequent destinations: HKG & TYO. ( I don't fly much domestically and when I do, I fly Southwest or sometimes Delta.)

What airline frequent flyer program do you recommend? JAL doesn't have a revenue minimum and still earns miles on distance right?

The answer depends on the class in which you will be flying.

Just wandering
Fred

• What are your objectives from a ffp?
• What will use the ff miles for?
• What ffp's are you a member of now & status (if any)?
• Any credit cards (now or future) that can boost ff miles?
• What class of travel to Asia (as post above)?

AA (international), CX & JL are ff partners of AS. AA is sadly now a restricted/limited AS partner.
https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...rline-partners

USA based airline ffp's tend to be more generous (status benefits/earn/burn/upgrades/award cost/award cash surcharges/expiry/affiliated credit card ff mile earning/promotions) compared to non USA based airline ffp’s (even after the recent changes to some USA ffp’s). But if you are not flying the airline of your ffp the useful benefits are somewhat limited. Low cost fares are tending to earn few ff miles, but depend on the ffp. Earning miles from non flying activities is easier with an airline ffp of your home country.

The airline you fly most or an airline of the country you live is the best ffp for many people. Generally you are better earning on your primary airline due to greater recognition, better service when disruptions, ability to upgrade flights and possible operational upgrades.

Look here:- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onew...help-here.html

Alaska is probably going to be the most generous in terms of earning redeemable miles, especially on Business Class fares. However any status you acquire won't do you much good...

What you don't want is AA... reward chart is worse than AS, and status is low value unless you fly AA domestically and get lucky with upgrades.

JAL has a lot of potential, but I've never dug into it in enough detail to come to a firm conclusion.

As mentioned, this largely depends on what fares you are on and what you are planning to do with the miles you earn. JAL and CX are distance-based with a fare-class component, yes. AA is revenue-based for AA flights, but distance-based for partner flights. Carefully research your options, especially if you (have to) fly economy. For example, only the highest, very expensive economy fare classes on Cathay earn any miles in AAdvantage - so you'd be better off crediting discounted Y tickets to Marco Polo where they earn at least something and contribute to attaining status.
Banking miles for (much) later use is only possible with AA because JAL and CX have fixed expiration policies - miles are gone after three years no matter what (exceptions apply for top tier status holders).

BOS to HKG/Asia and return is between 15k and 20k miles per trip, so you would make at least medium-tier sapphire status on all programs. If you fly Premium Economy or business class, Emerald is attainable. I would not rule out AA in this case, as the 4 systemwide upgrades you receive upon qualifying at the 100k level are pretty valuable, allowing you to upgrade two return flights on AA no matter the fare class of your tickets. AA F may not be an especially aspirational product, but I can attest that it's a very comfortable and spacious way to spend a 13-hour flight :). JAL only allows upgrading with miles on very expensive tickets in comparison, so not suited for the average traveler buying discounted fares.
Independent of FFP earning options - if you (have to) fly Economy, JAL is the only airline with a decent product on both aircraft types it uses on its TPAC flights. They are the only airline with 8-abreast seating (2-4-2) and corresponding seat width on all 787s, and they retained 9-abreast seating (3-3-3) on the 777s where all other airlines squeeze passengers 10-abreast in super-narrow seats nowadays. This makes a world of difference to me, and I`d not fly anyone else for this reason alone if I had a choice.

Thank you! These replies were extremely helpful. How can I find JAL economy fares that ar eupgrade eligible? Can that be done in their website?

IIRC all JL flights ex-BOS are on 787 equipment.

The key factor.

When I switched from CX to AA after the MPC programme was gutted for PEY/Y flyers like myself I did some research. My travelling is mainly TPAC, some Asia regional and HK-UK. Please bear in mind below is for PEY/Y passengers.

1. For each programme AA/CX/JL if in economy then flying on the others programmes are not going to be great for earning award miles, or mileage towards status.
2. If PEY and above then CX and JL on non-AA codeshares are going to be very good for AA status and miles, but domestic flying (which is not a major item here) means no lounge access.
3. For CX 6 return flights in lowest class business will get you to OWE on tier points, same in PEY & Highest price buckets Economy will get you to OWS, best not talk about lowest tier economy. But this is on CX only, AA & JL earn lower tier points.
4. But CX for these price buckets tends to be more expensive than other airlines (well into and out of HKG), so there is the CX premium dollar cost to be factored in.
5. JL is really geared towards Japanese and people based in Japan. Remember they have the JV with AA across the Pacific so the codeshare and JV comes into play.
6. For JL their are bonus points towards status which earn the same on JL as AA, lower on BA, and I believe not at all on CX.
7. For AA in economy should have no problem getting to OWS, and a mixture of economy and premium (including PEY) should get OWE.
8. AA at OWE will also help get upgrade certificates as well.

Suggest do some research, but if you are looking to re-locate to Japan, then JL is worth looking at, again if re-locating to HK, then CX is worth looking at, if not then longer term AA could well be best. Personal observation and others will give different perspectives.

Good Luck!

Nicc

I'd choose AAdvantage and fly JAL.