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There are four Business Class award seats available every day in June 2015 on Japan Airlines’ flight from Los Angeles to Osaka, Japan. Hat tip to reader Oren for passing along the tip.
The award space is bookable with American Airlines and US Airways miles much for as low as 50,000 miles each way. There are excellent connection options to and from Los Angeles and Osaka, so this space effectively connects all of the United States with all of Asia.
Unfortunately the seat servicing the route is angled lie flat. I’d wryly note that there’s a reason it won a 2009 design award and not a 2014 award.
- How can you search for the award space?
- How can you book the award space?
- How good is the seat?
- What are your connection options in Los Angeles and Osaka?
Searching
You can search for Japan Airlines award space on ba.com. I searched ba.com via Award Nexus to get this calendar, which shows that every day in June there are four Business Class award seats in both directions between Los Angeles and Osaka on the direct Japan Airlines flight.
Booking
Japan Airlines is a oneworld airline that partners with American Airlines and US Airways.
American Airlines charges 50,000 miles each way in Business Class to Japan and Korea and 55,000 miles each way to Southeast Asia.
US Airways charges 110,000 miles roundtrip in Business Class to Japan and North Asia and 120,000 to Southeast Asia.
We know that the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® will no longer be offered as soon as the US Airways and American Airlines frequent flyer programs integrate, some time in early 2015. That means that the chance to earn 40,000 bonus miles after first purchase will disappear soon. Check out all the places you can go with just the sign up bonus.
After finding award space at ba.com, call American Airlines (800-882-8880) or US Airways (800-622-1015) to book the award space.
The Seat
Japan Airlines will operate this route, which begins March 29, 2015, with an angled lie flat seat in Business Class. These are far more comfortable than an economy seat, but a noticeable step down from state-of-the-art fully flat beds.
Connection Options
Osaka has several international flights on Japan Airlines and other oneworld partners throughout Asia.
Los Angeles also has a few dozen destinations served by American Airlines.
Whether you’re booking with American Airlines miles or US Airways miles, you pay no extra miles for connecting from anywhere in the United States to this Japan Airlines flight.
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I tried this angle-lie seat in 787 JAL San Diego to Tokyo. Was disappointed. Better spent it on other products like CX business
They put that crap in a 787?!? What a joke. You’d think they do a modern design to be competitive. Is go with ANA to Japan.
Yeah that angled flat on the SAN-NRT flight was pretty bad. Too gorgeous of a plane to have that installed.. everything was spectacular other than the bed!!
Hi Scott,
I’m going to be flying from Tokyo to Taipei next week on JAL and was wondering which miles to collect for maximum value? I noticed that due to our fare codes, we would only get 50-70% of the mileage to American or USAirways. Should we do that or collect 100% to JAL? Thanks for your help!
AA, US Airways, or British Airways, whichever gives you the most miles. I would mostly ignore JAL unless maybe you also have a lot of SPG points you can transfer in to book Emirates.