Japan Airlines Announces Mileage Bank Devaluation Coming in June

We’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that you have time to plan because Japan Airlines announced this devaluation in advance. The bad news is that this Mileage Bank devaluation will hit hard for those who redeem miles for premium awards.

Prices are increasing for award tickets on June 10, 2025. You’ve got time to plan if you want to make any redemptions using Mileage Bank awards. You also may not be affected, because there are other options for booking these flights using points and miles.

Let’s check out the details to see what effect — if any — this will have on your award flight redemptions.

Mileage Bank Award Price Increase Coming in June

There’s nothing else to call this but a devaluation because Japan Airlines (JAL) is increasing the number of miles you need for Mileage Bank award tickets. This change will happen for any tickets issued on or after June 10, 2025. The silver lining is that we’re hearing about this change in advance, giving travelers time to plan.

JAL Mileage Bank uses a fixed award chart, meaning it’s easy to know how many miles you need to book a ticket. You simply find your starting point and destination on the chart. Prices you see are for one-way tickets

The new award pricing is available here for international flights. We won’t cover them all, but here’s a look at some popular routes and the new costs for award tickets:

Pricing for JAL’s fantastic first class and business class will go up significantly. JAL uses a seasonal chart for pricing in first class, and some of these tickets will cost 40% more after June 10. The airline will also start charging more on flights out of Kona, Hawaii (KOA) compared to those out of Honolulu (HNL) — something it isn’t doing right now.

Domestic pricing for nonstop flights is increasing as follows, with many awards simply costing 500 miles more per person. The silver lining is that first-class award pricing hasn’t changed on these flights. The new charts are available here.

If you were considering an award using Mileage Bank miles, it’s worth booking before June 10 to lock in these lower prices.

How This Might Affect You

Let’s talk about why this may not affect you.

Over the years, earning Mileage Bank miles has become increasingly difficult in the U.S. The carrier has the JAL USA CARD, which we’ll call “lackluster,” as a credit card, to be direct.

Beyond this, you can transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Mileage Bank at a 3:1 ratio. For those who still have the Barclaycard Arrival^® Plus World Elite Mastercard^® (which isn’t open to new applicants), you can transfer those at a not-great ratio of 2.3:1. Additionally, Mileage Bank receives transfers from several hotel programs at ratios so bad you shouldn’t even consider them.

Thus, many of our readers likely aren’t accruing Mileage Bank miles. And since there are other ways to book Japan Airlines flights with its Oneworld alliance partners, you can keep booking JAL flights through those programs without being affected by the Mileage Bank devaluation in June.

Final Thoughts

It’s nice that Japan Airlines is informing travelers about an impending devaluation of its Mileage Bank award program on June 10, 2025. For U.S.-based travelers, the effect looks bad at first — a 40% increase in how many miles you need always does. However, other methods of booking Japan Airlines flights aren’t affected, and you’re better served by sticking with those awards.