Flying Japan Airways first-class for 80K American Airways AAdvantage miles

It is probably the greatest candy spots on the planet of factors and miles: You’ll be able to guide Japan Airways enterprise or first-class utilizing miles from the frequent flyer applications 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 first-class 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 trade, that very same deal stays in place practically a decade later. In actual fact, I not too long ago recreated it to return to the “Land of the Rising Solar” — and you’ll, too.

This is easy methods to guide Japan Airways first-class utilizing miles and what it is prefer to fly.

Find out how to guide Japan Airways first-class 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.

Suggestions for locating JAL first-class awards

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

• Be versatile: Your finest guess to attain one in all these redemptions is to have the ability to journey every time seats occur to be accessible — 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 prematurely, and that is while you’ll doubtless discover the very best availability.
• Use award search instruments: Choices like Seats.aero and ExpertFlyer (owned by TPG mother or father firm Pink Ventures) are usually my go-to picks for locating award availability.
• Use American Airways’ search calendar perform: I used this perform to snag this specific 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 must guide a cheap positioning flight to get there.

Trying to find JAL first-class awards

To place these journeys into observe, let’s check out a few examples. My journey befell in September, however to display easy methods to discover extra JAL first-class awards, I carried out a few latest searches on different dates from varied cities to see what I may flip up.

I have a tendency to begin 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 looking for 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’ first-class. One other nice redemption.

Whereas I discovered my flights by looking for awards straight on the American Airways web site, I like to recommend utilizing an award search software like PointsYeah or Seats.aero to see if you’ll find area on the lowest award ranges.

Associated: Journey to Japan with factors and miles: Greatest methods to redeem your rewards for flights and resorts

You’ll be able to 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 need to use to guide the route.

A fast search of Seats.aero did not flip up any dates for me, however I set an alert. You’ll be able to see the alert affirmation beneath. I will get an electronic mail when stock turns into accessible.

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 in all 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 guide this redemption.

Keep in mind, Citi additionally not too long ago introduced the launch of transfers from its Citi ThankYou Rewards program to American’s AAdvantage loyalty program for these with specific Citi playing cards, in order that’s one other potential technique to pad your AAdvantage account.

What it was like flying Japan Airways first-class on the Boeing 777-300

Japan Airways affords 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 quite a few years, however continues to be fairly spacious and comfy.

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 file locator quantity (proven on my American Airways account). I selected seat 1K for the trip to Tokyo. As you may 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 capable of go to the American Airways Flagship First lounge at ORD. It is all the time 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 may be very roomy, and although some passengers would possibly dislike the shortage of sliding privateness doorways, which have gotten extra prevalent nowadays, it did not hassle me. There have been giant 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 flowery folio that held info like arrival paperwork and menus. It was a particular deal with to obtain a “quick lane” go to hurry via customs in Tokyo.

Contained in the Heralbony amenity package, I discovered a lot of goodies, together with a dental package, a watch masks, earplugs, a brush and comb combo, tissues, mouthwash, a USB-A wire and hand cream. One of the best 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, largely as a result of the seat itself is principally constructed like my father’s previous BarcaLounger. It measures about 23 inches throughout. As you may see, the suites are spacious and greater than most seats within the entrance of any aircraft.

Every seat additionally includes a well-padded ottoman. You would 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 giant tray desk that pops out from the aspect, which is nice for working as a result of you may 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 comfy 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 quilt.

I used to be capable of get a number of hours of high quality relaxation, although there have been no overhead air nozzles, and the cabin obtained 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 would possibly discover on different plane.

First-class passengers can preorder their fundamental meal prematurely, 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 possibility when flying an Asian service.

Workers provided passengers a predeparture alternative 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 collection 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 might chosen, beef with greens and rice.

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

A couple of hours earlier than we landed, I requested a bowl of ramen, which is all the time 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 (, for the kids).

One different be aware: I additionally did just a little 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 choice of midflight snacks.

I cherished the little touches from the crew, akin to this be aware within the rest room.

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 films. I watched an attention-grabbing documentary on ramen in Japan.

First-class passengers obtain complimentary Wi-Fi through a voucher quantity that you simply enter when logging in. In any other case, Wi-Fi prices $18.80. I used to be capable of 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.

General, 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 price that price ticket, which is why I 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 characteristic the airline’s newer first-class suites, which my colleague Eric Rosen had the pleasure of attempting not too long ago.

I hope to attempt them myself since Japan Airways at present flies its A350-1000s on three U.S. routes from HND to JFK, Los Angeles Worldwide Airport (LAX) and Dallas Fort Value 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 am unable to wait to fly it once more, although I would not thoughts if the service swapped the aircraft 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 likely one of the finest at present accessible redemptions on the planet of factors and miles.

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