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JAL upgrade from premium economy to business
Next month, we’re traveling on JAL from JFK to NRT to SGN. Very reasonable price in Premium Economy (only available from JFK to Japan) Economy to SGN . Paid through the AMEX travel website months ago. Are there any reasonable options to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business, even if just for the longer legs? I have plenty of AMEX and Chase Ultimate Rewards points, but don’t want to waste them. Trying to learn the ropes, but would truly appreciate any advice, if possible, from the experts! Thanks in advance.
I assume your ticket was issued by JAL (ticket number begins with 131)? Then I believe you’d need JAL miles to upgrade. You can get those from Marriott points (3 Marriott = 1 JAL) or Capital One (1.7:1). Someone please correct me if I’m wrong.
You can also transfer Alaska miles, I believe. Regardless, MidSouth has it in a nutshell – the mileage/points you need to upgrade depends on who issued the ticket. In your case, as MidSouth points out, it sounds like JAL issued it so you would need JAL miles to upgrade.
I’ve run into this several times before myself, though for me it has usually been an AA/BA thing.
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