DOJ approval of the Virgin America merger is one thing, but I think the real news today is that Alaska Airlines finally published its award chart for redeeming miles on Japan Airlines.
You may recall that the two carriers announced their partnership in May, so you can earn Alaska miles when you fly JAL. But what about using Mileage Plan miles to fly on JAL? That has been a very long wait. The good news is that awards are finally here and they seem reasonably priced.
The American AAdvantage program is the route most people use to book awards on JAL since they’re both oneworld Alliance members. American’s current one-way award prices between the continental U.S. and Japan (Asia 1) are not bad:
- 35,000 miles in coach
- 60,000 miles in business class
- 80,000 miles in first class
However, Alaska’s pricing is noticeably better. In addition to lower prices for first class awards (assuming you can find the inventory) there is also an option to book into premium economy for a small premium of 5,000 miles each way. Round-trip pricing is simply double the one-way price.
- 35,000 miles in coach
- 40,000 miles in premium economy
- 60,000 miles in business class
- 70,000 miles in first class
These are prices for travel from Japan to the continental U.S. and to Canada. You can also continue your journey on JAL to anywhere in Southeast Asia for an additional 5,000 miles each way. Again, this is a pretty good deal compared to booking through AA. I had a great time flying first class on JAL this spring, returning from the cherry blossoms in Tokyo.
Intra-Asia flights are also available and are reasonably priced. You might have more luck finding award space on these routes.
- 15,000 miles in coach
- 17,500 miles in premium economy
- 25,000 miles in business class
- 30,000 miles in first class
Remember, JAL flies to destinations other than Asia and North America, but you can’t use Alaska Airlines miles for those awards. You can only redeem Alaska miles for awards that are published in the award chart, as I’ve discussed before. Fortunately the online tool will let you enter your origin and destination regions and display a list of all partners with published awards between those places.
