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- Japan Airlines
Japan Mileage Bank
Program overview
Japan Mileage Bank is the loyalty program of Japan Airlines (JAL), the second largest airline in Japan and a member of Oneworld Alliance. It is a distance-based program. You can redeem miles for JAL, Oneworld partners and several non-Oneworld partners at excellent prices.
Alliance | |
Program website | |
Approximate miles value | Varies |
Miles validity | 36 months |
Program accrual | Flight mileage + bonus |
Limit on amount of miles you can purchase | No option to purchase miles |
Waitlist option | No |
Courtesy Hold for award reservation | Not allowed |
Do you need to open an account to check availability? | Yes |
Stopover option | 3 stopovers on partner flights and no stopovers within Japan |
Family account | Yes |
Upgrade option | Yes |
Online booking | Yes, but some partners must be booked over the phone |
Airline partners | Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines, Sri Lankan Airlines, Air France, Bangkok Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Emirates, Hawaiian Airlines, Korean air, LATAM |
Credit card partners | No transfer partners |
Hotel partners | IHG Rewards (5:1, 6 weeks transfer), Marriott Bonvoy (3:1, 2 days transfer), Hilton Honors (10:1, up to 30 days transfer), World of Hyatt (2.5:1, 6-8 weeks transfer), Radisson Rewards (10:1, 4-6 weeks transfer), Accor Live Limitless (2:1, 4-6 weeks transfer) |
Co-branded credit cards | None |
Point/Miles Conversion Chart
Pros
- Miles pooling
- Low refund fee (USD $30)
- Lower mileage requirements for redemptions compared to other airlines
Cons
- Fuel surcharges on some partner airlines
- Complicated redemption process
- Not a user friendly website
- No credit card transfer partners or co-branded cards in the US
- Awards can be used by the Japan Mileage Bank member, member's spouse, relatives within the second degree of kinship, and the spouses of members' brothers and sisters
Excellent for
- Round trip from the US to Tokyo on JAL for 140,000 miles in First and 100,000 in Business Class.
- JAL domestic tickets start from 5,000 miles in Economy.
- Round trip from the US to Dubai on Emirates for 110,000 miles in Business (please note that taxes/fuel surcharges are very high).
Insider Tip
- One of a very few programs where transferring points from hotel programs may occasionally make sense.
- You can pool up to 9 immediate family members. So if you are buying a trip for family and you do not normally fly Oneworld, you could pool the miles and earn something of value given JAL’s low redemption prices. You could do the same with British Executive Club but those points are far easier to come by than JAL.
- The Homebase Stopover Strategy works very well for Tokyo based travelers.
Do you use this program? Share your experience and tips in the comments below. Your thoughts would be very valuable to us!
Choose where you are going from and to by selecting the respective zones. There are two ways to choose your origin and destination - you can either select the zones they fall into on the map or by clicking on the bars above the map and entering the city name or airport code into the search fields.
- Choose one of the three point combination options which is applicable to you. If you don't have any miles in any airline accounts you can leave those fields blank.
- Input all of the different points you have on the credit cards you are planning to use. You can enter as many as you like. If you have multiple cards on one name from the same bank you can combine and enter the total amount of points between all of your cards.
- Enter all the miles you have in airlines frequent flyer programs on the left hand side following the airlines name.
- Once you input the information, click on the analyze button at the bottom of the page.
- The analyzer will offer you the optimal transfer combinations to explore as well as pros and cons of each.
- Review analyzer recommendations. Total number of miles is not the only consideration you should take into account. Analyzer will give you additional information about each program to make the right decision. You can also download results to a pdf and even send them to others if you like.
- Proceed to check availability with respective airlines. Do not transfer any miles until you confirm the desired option is available on the airline’s website. Note the transfer time and hold the reservation if possible before transferring any miles.
- Remember all transfers are final as you would not be able to send the points back to your credit card. If your trip is cancelled your miles will go back to the respective airline account.
- Transferring points to airline's frequent flyer programs is not the only way to obtain the award ticket. You can also redeem the points through your credit card directly by using the Book Travel option. You can find out more by checking out our Credit card reward tab on Wikimiles home page.
- WikiMiles Crew is always here to answer any questions. For an additional fee we can also assist you with the bookings. Use the Contact us section to reach out to us.
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