Flying Japan Airways top quality for 80K American Airways AAdvantage miles

It is top-of-the-line candy spots on this planet of factors and miles: You possibly can e book Japan Airways enterprise or top quality utilizing miles from the frequent flyer packages of its U.S. companions, like American Airways and Alaska Airways.

It is a redemption that has loads of nostalgia for me, too.

Japan Airways was my first main mileage redemption again in 2016. I booked a one-way ticket to Tokyo in top quality for simply 80,000 American Airways AAdvantage miles. I will always remember the sense of victory I felt once I scored that journey.

Remarkably, after tons of loyalty shake-ups and devaluations throughout the worldwide airline business, that very same deal stays in place almost a decade later. The truth is, I just lately recreated it to return to the “Land of the Rising Solar” — and you may, too.

Here is how one can e book Japan Airways top quality utilizing miles and what it is prefer to fly.

Tips on how to e book Japan Airways top quality with American Airways AAdvantage miles (or Atmos Rewards factors)

I flew from Chicago’s O’Hare Worldwide Airport (ORD) to Tokyo’s Narita Worldwide Airport (NRT) for simply 80,000 AAdvantage miles one-way. You may also redeem Alaska Airways Atmos Rewards for JAL flights, although the identical first-class ticket would have required 110,000 Atmos Rewards factors.

Ideas for locating JAL first-class awards

Whereas JAL first-class awards are fairly uncommon, listed below are a couple of of my prime tips to land these redemptions:

• Be versatile: Your finest guess to attain one among these redemptions is to have the ability to journey each time seats occur to be obtainable — together with on the final minute.
• Search the calendar as quickly because the schedule opens: JAL opens up seats to its companions about 11 months upfront, and that is if you’ll probably discover one of the best availability.
• Use award search instruments: Choices like Seats.aero and ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG dad or mum firm Crimson Ventures) are typically my go-to picks for locating award availability.
• Use American Airways’ search calendar perform: I used this perform to snag this explicit seat.
• Verify a number of departure cities: I often seek for flights from New York Metropolis, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, even when I will have to e book a reasonable positioning flight to get there.

Looking for JAL first-class awards

To place these journeys into follow, let’s check out a few examples. My journey passed off in September, however to exhibit how one can discover extra JAL first-class awards, I performed a few latest searches on different dates from varied cities to see what I may flip up.

I have a tendency to start out by looking out flights from three of JAL’s U.S. locations: New York Metropolis, Chicago and San Francisco. A latest calendar seek for January 2026 revealed connecting itineraries from San Francisco to Chicago after which onto Tokyo for 80,000 AAdvantage miles (in comparison with the 100,000 AAdvantage miles American would have charged me for a business-class seat by itself flights).

That was a close-in instance. However when trying to find extra award stock, I discovered a ticket from New York Metropolis to San Francisco after which onto Tokyo for 80,000 miles subsequent September.

I would even be fortunate sufficient to fly American’s new Airbus A321XLR if these plane are in service from New York Metropolis’s John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport (JFK) to San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO) to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) in Japan Airways’ top quality. One other nice redemption.

Whereas I discovered my flights by trying to find awards instantly on the American Airways web site, I like to recommend utilizing an award search software like PointsYeah or Seats.aero to see if yow will discover area on the lowest award ranges.

Associated: Journey to Japan with factors and miles: Finest methods to redeem your rewards for flights and motels

You possibly can merely enter your metropolis pairs after which set some filters to seek for particular airways, akin to Japan Airways, to generate outcomes that present which miles you should use to e book the route.

A fast search of Seats.aero did not flip up any dates for me, however I set an alert. You possibly can see the alert affirmation under. I will get an e-mail when stock turns into obtainable.

I additionally searched PointsYeah, one other up-and-coming award search software. I’ve set an alert for a return journey to New York from Japan in early October subsequent yr. If the previous is any information, I anticipate to obtain a number of alerts within the coming months despatched proper to my inbox.

Associated: These 12 apps and web sites make award redemptions simpler to search out

There are many methods to earn American Airways AAdvantage miles, together with opening one among Citi’s American Airways-branded playing cards with a excessive welcome provide.

Proper now, for instance, Citi and American Airways simply launched the brand new Citi® / AAdvantage® Globe™ Mastercard® (see charges and costs). The Citi / AAdvantage Globe has a limited-time welcome bonus of 90,000 bonus miles after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first 4 months from account opening. That is sufficient miles to e book this redemption.

Keep in mind, Citi additionally just lately introduced the launch of transfers from its Citi ThankYou Rewards program to American’s AAdvantage loyalty program for these with explicit Citi playing cards, in order that’s one other potential technique to pad your AAdvantage account.

What it was like flying Japan Airways top quality on the Boeing 777-300

Japan Airways presents older first-class seats aboard its Boeing 777-300ERs and far newer suites aboard its Airbus A350-1000s. I flew the previous, which has been in service for numerous years, however remains to be fairly spacious and cozy.

As soon as I booked my flight, I used to be ready to decide on my seat on the Japan Airways web site utilizing the JL report locator quantity (proven on my American Airways account). I selected seat 1K for the experience to Tokyo. As you’ll be able to see, there are solely eight first-class seats on the 777-300ER organized in a 1-2-1 configuration.

Earlier than my flight, I used the Flagship First check-in space at Chicago, however solely as a result of the Japan Airways check-in counters weren’t open but (and the pleasant brokers there took pity on me). Flagship First is often reserved for these flying on American Airways-operated flights. This allowed me to leap forward to the entrance of the TSA PreCheck line, too.

As soon as inside, I used to be in a position to go to the American Airways Flagship First lounge at ORD. It is at all times a bit crowded, however there are a ton of nice seating areas, good meals and sumptuous views of the American Airways jets parked at close by gates.

My Japan Airways jet, ship quantity JA743J, was 16 years previous.

The primary-class cabin has simply eight seats organized in two rows of 4 seats every.

Every seat could be very roomy, and although some passengers may dislike the dearth of sliding privateness doorways, which have gotten extra prevalent lately, it did not hassle me. There have been massive privateness shields to make every seat really feel extra secluded anyway.

My seat had three full home windows, which was very best for planespotting.

There was a plethora of facilities — together with a bottle of water, an amenity package, a field of skincare merchandise, slippers and Panasonic headphones — ready at every seat. I appreciated the flamboyant folio that held data like arrival paperwork and menus. It was a particular deal with to obtain a “quick lane” cross to hurry by means of customs in Tokyo.

Contained in the Heralbony amenity package, I discovered a number of goodies, together with a dental package, a watch masks, earplugs, a brush and comb combo, tissues, mouthwash, a USB-A twine and hand cream. The most effective factor, although, was the fabulous skincare package from Shiseido Males; it included a face cleanser, a hydrating tonic and a revitalizing cream.

Whereas some passengers complain about these dated first-class seats, I nonetheless like them, principally as a result of the seat itself is mainly constructed like my father’s previous BarcaLounger. It measures about 23 inches throughout. As you’ll be able to see, the suites are spacious and larger than most seats within the entrance of any airplane.

Every seat additionally encompasses a well-padded ottoman. You might doubtlessly provide it as a seat to a touring companion for a (very tight) working lunch or dinner because it comes with its personal seat belt. There’s a massive tray desk that pops out from the facet, which is nice for working as a result of you’ll be able to slide it forwards and backwards.

There are additionally loads of nooks and crannies for storage within the suite. Two compartments open for inside storage, and there’s a smaller compartment with a conceit and an inflight leisure controller. That is additionally the place you will discover seat controls, a headphone jack, an AC energy outlet and a USB-A port.

The mattress folds all the way down to lie utterly flat and measures about 79 inches in size. I discovered it extraordinarily snug throughout my flight, and I appreciated that the flight attendants turned down the seat for me with a high-end Airweave pad, pillows and a cover.

I used to be in a position to get a number of hours of high quality relaxation, although there have been no overhead air nozzles, and the cabin bought a bit heat.

There isn’t a overhead bin within the middle, both, which makes the cabin look bigger. Nevertheless, which means that area for carry-ons is extra restricted than you may discover on different plane.

First-class passengers can preorder their fundamental meal upfront, and I selected the Japanese menu. Although I am not an enormous fan of seafood, I prefer to immerse myself within the Japanese tradition even earlier than I arrive, so I often choose that choice when flying an Asian service.

Workers provided passengers a predeparture selection of glowing wine, orange juice or water simply earlier than takeoff, together with a scorching towel.

An hour after takeoff, I used to be served an amuse bouche of sturgeon on toast and prosciutto and cream cheese encased in a date. That got here together with a nonalcoholic Alan Milliat glowing pinot noir grape juice.

The appetizer course was a sequence of small Japanese bites. Among the many choices have been sea eel with eggplant and lobster in a spicy sauce, adopted by a soup course and the principle I would chosen, beef with greens and rice.

For dessert, I had a scrumptious Japanese gelatin-like soup that tasted quite a bit higher than it appeared.

A number of hours earlier than we landed, I requested a bowl of ramen, which is at all times a deal with on Japan Airways and was my favourite meal of the entire flight.

For a prearrival meal, I selected to have a scrumptious asparagus soup and a cheese sandwich, plus many cappuccinos.

Service was glorious all through the flight, particularly from the purser Narumi, who even introduced me a small Japan Airways-themed toy (you already know, for the kids).

One different word: I additionally did a bit of nonalcoholic tasting of that glowing juice and the airline’s signature Royal Blue Tea, which have been offered and poured with nice fanfare. It added a pleasant contact to the refined service (and retails for round $35 per bottle).

One other flight attendant snapped a photograph of me perusing the collection of midflight snacks.

I liked the little touches from the crew, akin to this word within the lavatory.

The restrooms have been saved tidy and clear all through the journey, they usually had fancy Cle de Peau facilities.

The inflight leisure, on the 22.5-inch display, wasn’t very complete, however there was sufficient to maintain me amused once I was awake, together with some 22 new-release motion pictures. I watched an attention-grabbing documentary on ramen in Japan.

First-class passengers obtain complimentary Wi-Fi through a voucher quantity that you just enter when logging in. In any other case, Wi-Fi prices $18.80. I used to be in a position to do some emailing and texting, however the speeds weren’t nice. So, I am glad I did not pay for it.

We ended up arriving in Tokyo about 13 minutes early. I used to be well-rested, well-fed and relaxed.

Total, the flight was glorious … particularly contemplating I redeemed simply 80,000 AAdvantage miles. The identical flight booked for subsequent yr was priced at $17,484 once I checked in November. For me, no first-class seat is value that price ticket, which is why I really like utilizing factors and miles.

Backside line

Though these seats are beginning to present their age, they continue to be a wonderful technique to journey the world. Japan Airways plans to switch its 777-300ER fleet with Airbus A350-1000s that function the airline’s newer first-class suites, which my colleague Eric Rosen had the pleasure of attempting just lately.

I hope to strive them myself since Japan Airways at the moment flies its A350-1000s on three U.S. routes from HND to JFK, Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) and Dallas Fort Price Worldwide Airport (DFW).

I nonetheless love the 777 and its older seats, although, and I have already got one other award flight arising subsequent September. I can not wait to fly it once more, although I would not thoughts if the service swapped the airplane for a brand new A350-1000 by the point the flight rolls round.

Both means, reserving a first-class seat on Japan Airways for as few as 80,000 American AAdvantage miles or 110,000 Atmos Rewards factors, respectively, is among the finest at the moment obtainable redemptions on this planet of factors and miles.

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