Japan Airlines has been modernizing its long haul fleet with new Airbus A350-1000s, which offer an incredible passenger experience:
- Japan Airlines’ A350 first class is spectacular, and I rank it as one of the two best first class products in the world
- Japan Airlines’ A350 business class is excellent, among my favorite business class experiences out there
This is a plane worth seeking out, so understandably, many OMAAT readers may be wondering how to redeem miles for these cabins. The good news is that it’s absolutely possible to redeem miles for Japan Airlines’ new A350 first and business class. The bad news is that it may take a bit of effort.
Japan Airlines premium award space when schedule opens
Japan Airlines is quite consistent when it comes to making award space available. On international, long haul flights, Japan Airlines generally makes one first class award seat available as soon as the schedule opens, and at least two business class award seats available. This applies to routes operated by both the Airbus A350-1000 and Boeing 777-300ER.
Japan Airlines opens its schedule 360 days out, so you’ll immediately see those award seats available at that point. It’s not only bookable by Japan Airlines Mileage Bank members, but also by members of select partner frequent flyer programs.
This brings us to the challenge, as I’ve written in the past about when airlines open award seats. While Japan Airlines opens its schedule 360 days in advance, American AAdvantage only opens its schedule 331 days out, and Alaska Mileage Plan only opens its schedule 330 days out.
In other words, you couldn’t use Alaska miles or American miles until those respective windows, meaning you have a roughly one month delay with accessing that award space. In almost all cases, that first and business class award space will be booked by then.
I’m finding that more often than not, that one first class award seat on a particular flight is snagged within hours of becoming available, and sometimes within minutes. One has to wonder if those seats are being legitimately booked, or if there might be some brokers somehow locking in these seats, and then finding a way to monetize that. The consistency and speed with which these are being booked makes me think there might be some funny business going on.
Why Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is probably your best bet
While it would be nice to directly have Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles, the reality is that those miles are hard to come by, as the program doesn’t partner with any major transferable points currencies. So you want to find a points currency that partners with Japan Airlines and transferable points currencies, and that opens its schedule 360 days out.
There’s one program that fits the bill — Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. The program opens its calendar 360 days out, Cathay Pacific also belongs to oneworld, and the frequent flyer program partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, and Citi ThankYou.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles allows Japan Airlines first and business class awards to be booked directly through its website, and you should see one first class award seat and two business class award seats as soon as the schedule opens.
Japan Airlines currently flies its A350s from Tokyo (HND) to Dallas (DFW), London (LHR), and New York (JFK), and in all markets, award pricing is the same. One-way, you’ll pay 135,000 Cathay Pacific miles for first class, and 89,000 Cathay Pacific miles for business class. There are also a few hundred bucks in taxes and carrier imposed surcharges (and if departing the UK, you’re also on the hook for the Air Passenger Duty).
Obviously this isn’t quite as good of a value as you’d get if redeeming American miles (60,000-80,000 American miles plus no carrier imposed surcharges), but at least you have access to availability.
A couple of other important things to note:
- While Cathay Pacific’s award search feature often says “only a few seats left,” that’s not always accurate, and it says that even if there’s only one award seat available (like in first class)
- In the calendar function you’ll see the price of 160,000 miles listed for first class, but that’s the pricing in the event that there were first class award space on Cathay Pacific
What about award space closer to departure?
If you don’t want to (or can’t) snag a Japan Airlines first or business class class award a year out, do you have any shot of still finding space?
Back in the day, Japan Airlines would consistently make unsold first and business class seats available as awards as the departure date approached. Unfortunately for over a year now, that’s no longer the case, and the airline doesn’t consistently release unsold seats as awards as the departure date approaches.
In first class, I find that the airline nowadays typically releases that one seat. In business class, more seats are sometimes opened up, but not necessarily with any discernible pattern.
So, do you have any chance of scoring a first class award through American AAdvantage? In theory, it’s absolutely possible. If someone cancels the award they book right when the schedule opens, it could be bookable through another partner program as well at a later date. However, expect for it to take a lot of work.
In business class, I’d say that it’s still difficult, but not quite as challenging as in first class. We do sometimes see more seats open as the departure date approaches.
The good news is that the American AAdvantage award calendar makes it pretty easy to search award availability across a wide variety of dates, so it’s not like checking is complicated.
Bottom line
Japan Airlines has introduced some of the world’s best first and business class products on its new Airbus A350-1000s. The good news is that it’s absolutely possible to redeem miles for these products, as the airline pretty consistently makes award seats available as soon as the schedule opens.
The trick is that Japan Airlines opens its schedule 360 days out, so you’ll need miles with a currency that also has access to award space 360 days out. This is why booking through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles might be your best bet, because the program has access to award space right away.
Through Cathay Pacific, you can expect to pay 135,000 miles for first class or 89,000 miles for business class, with carrier imposed surcharges being added to the total. While this isn’t the world’s greatest bargain, it is the best realistic option for booking these seats.
What’s your take on Japan Airlines’ A350 first and business class award availability?
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