I have flown both JL and KE on the referred long-haul seats - they are great for privacy but a bit tight esp for a tall person such as myself, compared to CX. Food and service are great. Cabin tends to be warm.

Hope this is helpful for those thinking about it. I don't think I'll pull this one as I have better options but it's good for ex-US fares.

What are your better options?

Hey, no you shouldn't need to process through immigration to transit, even on a different airline. There's no 'transit' area per say, just a method by which you need to transit. Without immigration. I've stayed overnight at the priority pass lounge hotel and it's quite comfortable. You can go to the Cathay transit desk in the terminal to get your onward boarding pass. Please note however, this whole thing really only works is you're travelling WITHOUT checked luggage. If you've checked a bag, you'll need to go through immigration in order to pick it up I think.

Hey ebrench , this is really helpful. Thank you!

Personally every time I've done it I just clear immigration and stay at the Novotel.

Has anyone been able to book this fare recently? I see tons of availability on Matrix, but cannot find a single place that can price the flight? Thanks.

I got to pay screen via google flights. 3 options (aa.com, jal.com, or call jal). I only tried with the first 2.
alternatively, a TA can book these (confirmed). I like to throw a bone to the TA I use as he works hard for me and does a bunch of gratis stuff. It's just the same to me.

I was able to book a few weeks ago JFK KUL on the Japan Air website but there were very few available dates in early December when we’re going.

Alaska or American
 

I'm trying to figure out if I should credit to Alaska (MVP Gold 75k) or American (EXP)...am I doing the math right below to help make the decision?

Ticketed: Japan Airlines
Ticket Class: X
Air miles: 20,120 (Round Trip) JFK-Tokyo-KUL-Tokyo-JFK

Alaska:
RDM (100% Base Miles +25% Class of Service +100% (Additional Bonus)) = 45,270 + 56,587 (MVP Gold 75) = 101,857
EQM (100% + 25% Class of Service Bonus): 25,150
*Not sure about EQM

or

American Airlines:
RDM (100% Base + 25% Class of Service) = 25,150 + 24,144 (AA EXP) = 49,294
EQM (2.00): 40,240
EQD (25%): 5,030

For Alaska, you definitely don't get 125% of the total. You get 125% of the base miles as MVPG75.

20,120 * ( 1.0 (base miles) + 0.25 (class of service) + 1.0 (additional bonus) + (1.0 * 1.25 (base miles * elite mileage multiplier))) = 20,120 * 3.5 = 70,420 RDM.

Still a good haul, but not as good as your initial calculation.

Edit: This is to the best of my understanding going back to check previous AS credited flights. I'm not exactly an expert compared to most on here.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d712399cdb.jpg

Is this a publicly available spreadsheet or one you keep for personal use? I've got an AS status spreadsheet that was shared on here at one point, but yours looks much nicer.

It is one that I created for myself, particularly useful for multi-airline, multi-cabin, itineraies.

James

Thanks FlyingForFun - you must be a financial wizard in the real world.

yours looks much nicer (and tracks more stuff) Triple-F.
You have some good content there!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d746acd280.jpg

my google sheet calculator/tracker
including this trip.

This fare from JFK to TPE/TSA has returned at a lower price, ticketable on either JL or AA. You can get it below $2,000 with an Expedia package. (I'm not sure about Amex IAP.)

Example
JFK-HND-TSA -- $2,069

$1832 on IAP

Thank you. Do you know if better to book on JL or AA, or doesn’t matter? (If crediting to Alaska)

also how do you book Expedia package or get further discount?

This fare from JFK to TPE/TSA has returned at a lower price, ticketable on either JL or AA. You can get it below $2,000 with an Expedia package. (I'm not sure about Amex IAP.)

It does not earn if ticketed by AA after February 20. It earns better in AS if ticketed by JL regardless.

Just booked with Amex international program for a bit of $1800! Thanks to OP and to everyone else.

sorry to ask a very stupid, rookie question. if i am looking to go from JFK -> HND (Japan anywhere, really), can this fare but utilized leveraging UR points?

again, sorry. i have tried to do my homework but it's a lot to take in.

thanks.

You should be able to stopover in Tokyo for an extra $100 according to the fare rules, so you could do something like JFK-HND-TSA-HND / STOP / HND-JFK and search that as a multi-city in the UR portal. It's not the best thing in the world, but if you don't mind the extra flights might be worth it.

Google Flights

JFK-KUL is still alive and well but I can't seem to find BKK. As anyone had any luck finding BKK lately at anywhere near the original price?

I have some availability to BKK, one short trip in early Feb and the rest next late spring to early summer, but somewhat above the original sale price for TPE as BKK is closer to 2,800 from JFK. If you PM me your preferred dates or range of dates, I can try to build an itinerary for you in our GDS.

I also have more availability out of LAX for any west coast flyers

Any options from the west coast? I was hoping to visit Japan in September.

You can try the YVR-HAN trip with an extended layover in NRT and then we can try and route you back through LAX where you just 'jump ship' and go home (assuming that's your base)

Booked a nice vacation for the family, JFK-NRT-TPE//TPE-KIX//ITM-HND-JFK, at under $2200pp. Have some old friends in Taipei as well as Osaka, so looking forward to it. Thanks for the great fare.

Thanks everyone for this. I was able to book this on Amex IAP for 1800 jfk>nrt>tpe which will allow me to complete my exec plat challenge in one trip!

Thanks so much!

I’m leaving tomorrow morning on my JFK-NRT-TPE//TSA-HND//HND-JFK trip that I booked via IAP for the whole family to visit relatives in Taipei and Taoyuan using this deal. Thanks for the post! Very excited, but also a bit nervous for my 1.5 year-old daughter’s first long-haul flight. Her older brother is a pro at this point and will be just fine watching movies while slurping noodles!

Excited for you! I leave on 1/26 and return 1/28, just a quick mileage run bc I need to get back to work, I've done this before on United in economy so this will be much more comfortable!

If crediting to AA pls do advise how your eqms and eqds turn out and how long they take to post please!

Will do. My trip was booked as AA codeshare on the way to TPE, and pure JL flight numbers on the return - it was the only way to get the IAP discount for our dates. Off to the airport!

Just flew that same itinerary (12/28 back 12/30). I love being on planes as much as much as other AVgeeks and I am usually good at sleeping on planes. However, on the way to NRT, JL 3 day-time flight, I barely slept and it was a long journey.

as of 12/31, still not JL flight credited to my AA account.

Wow sounds like you and I are doing the exact same mileage run. Did you just stay at the Novotel in tpe or did you head into the city for a few hours and stay at a hotel there?

In terms of crediting should post in about 3 business days right? I am new to AA so this is an honest question.

I booked a hotel in the city, Grand Hyatt Taipei, since I wanted to visit the "Taipei 101" building.

I did the same too! How long did it take you to get to the hotel from the airport? Did you take taxi or Uber? Thanks for your help, funny are plans are almost exactly the same lol

I just arrived to the GH a few hours ago - it took exactly 45 minutes in a car from TPE. The flight from NRT to TPE was delayed an hour due to a passenger not boarding but his/her bags being onboard and needing to be offloaded.

And the Shell Flat Neo seats on the 788 that everyone says are terrible... they truly are bad. I was ready to be a counterpoint to the naysayers, but I also disliked it - little padding, weird angles, etc. The food and service were spectacular, though, even on such a relatively short flight!

Thanks for the update, did you take a cab and pay by credit card or did you exchange currency?

What were your thoughts on the sky suite? That's where I plan to do most of my sleeping.

I set up a limo transfer they the hotel since we needed a van, and I needed it to be incredibly seamless due to having tons of luggage and two exhausted kids in tow. My in-laws say that some cans take credit cards but some don’t. Their info might be a little stale, though...

Funny you ask about the seat. I had typed up this little mini review of the flight, which I’ll paste here despite probably belonging in the JL forum:

So overall, I REALLY liked JAL’s 773 business class. I had previously only ever flown their first class, and obviously F is better and worth 20k extra miles on an award redemption, but it’s not THAT much better that I’d ever even remotely consider paying for it (as opposed to LH, where the difference is worth the money depending on fares. This is not to say that JL’s F is bad, it’s simply that I think they do such a good job with their J. Soft product is superb. Dinner was excellent, and felt like nearly as much food as what you get in F. The abalone was perfect and the beef sukiyaki was shockingly good. The kids meal my daughter got looked quite delicious, was three courses (a ton of food), and was played really cutely. FAs also brought around a basket of toys for the kids to pick from. They got cool A350 models as well as little plush coin bags in the shape of a JAL plane.

I know there are some detractors, but I think the Apex seat is great. I am 6’3”, and it was just about long enough for me. I had a middle seat and still felt it was wide enough. Not having to jam my feet into a little cubby was wonderful, and I didn’t find the lack of storage so bad. Certainly better storage than BA, though that’s an admittedly low bar. The fabric keeps you cooler than the leather in F, and the seat felt more continuously flat than the F seat (i.e., I didn’t feel the transitions/gaps between sections of the seat when in lie flat mode).

Shiseido products in WC were very helpful for keeping my face and hands moisturized.

The one major downside in my mind is cabin temp. It was 25-27 degrees in the cabin for a while and then turned down to 23-24 (I got to see the screen with temperatures throughout the cabin as the FA changed them since I was up by the galley stretching my legs). 23-24 was fine, but temp should really be closer to 21-22. I would highly recommend bringing shorts and a t-shirt To change into in case you get hot.

Bottom line, this is an excellent all around J product, and it’s a pleasure to be spoiled by the fantastic service and delicious food and drink. However, if I really needed to get sleep on a certain flight to/from Tokyo, I might book AA to get the cooler cabin temp as well as no temptation to stay awake as there’s no fabulous service, food, or drink that I’d be missing.

Thank you for this, I get hot rather quickly so will be bringing shorts and a t-shirt for sure

See below screenshot for EQM/EQD earnings for the outbound AA codeshares. The EQDs correspond approximately proportionally to the distance of each segment as a % of the entire trip (i.e., segment miles / total trip miles * base fare). EQDs will be better on the pure JL flight numbers on the way home.

Posted for me in one day.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d6ad7818a1.png