While you can technically redeem Japan Airlines miles for an array of items, it’s best to stick to award flights.
The Mileage Bank program uses a number of award charts, but for simplicity, let’s focus on a few.
The first chart is the JAL International Award Chart that you’ll use when flying on a Japan Airlines international flight.
Japan Airlines International Award Chart with round-trip pricing shown. Image courtesy of jal.co.jp.
Another chart that you may use is the Japan Airlines Partner Award Chart. This covers flights like American Airlines from the U.S. to Japan.
Japan Airlines Partner Award Chart. Image courtesy of jal.co.jp.
If your flight doesn’t fit into either of those buckets, you can find the full list of award charts here.
After you’ve located the appropriate award chart to use, it’s helpful to know a few of the important components of the charts.
The main item to understand is that award pricing is based on total trip distance. While Japan Airlines has a mileage calculator, Great Circle Mapper is the most intuitive tool to use.
Prior to the Japan Airlines award devaluation in 2018, you could find incredible value on certain routes.
While that may no longer be the case across the board, sweet spots can always be found if you look closely enough.
Two of the best values in the award charts can be found in the Japan Airlines limited days of the week award chart and are as follows:
- 80,000 miles round-trip business class to Japan on limited days of the week
- 110,000 miles round-trip first class to Japan on limited days of the week
Hot Tip: If you’re craving more of these high-value opportunities, check out our post covering the best ways to use Japan Airlines miles.
Oneworld Alliance and Other Partner Awards
As mentioned earlier, Japan Airlines uses a number of award charts: one for Japan Airlines flights, another when flying on a Oneworld partner, and yet another when flying on a non-Oneworld partner.
For partner airline flights, use these as your reference guide to make sure the flight is priced correctly:
Booking Online
For Oneworld award flights, the Japan Airlines website isn’t the one I’d recommend that you use.
Instead, the British Airways or Qantas websites are much more efficient and effective, especially when it comes to showing Oneworld award availability.
While it’s true that the Japan Airlines website is difficult, if you can find the flight that you need, you avoid the dreaded phone call booking process.
When searching for award flights, it’s important to keep in mind these general rules:
- Search the British Airways or Qantas websites for Oneworld flights
- Use the Delta or Flying Blue websites for SkyTeam flights
- Search the Alaska website for Emirates and Alaska flights
Hot Tip: If you’re looking for an airline partner that’s not listed above or you can’t find award space on the respective website, consider using Expert Flyer.
Featured Image: Courtesy of Shutterstock