Japan Airlines Flat Bed Business Class Wide Open USA to Asia, But You Have to Search a Weird Place

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Award space in Japan Airlines’ brand new flat bed Business Class on its Dreamliner from Dallas to Tokyo is wide open from November 30, 2015 to August 2016 for two or more passengers.

You can book it for an amazing 50,000 American Airlines miles each way.  For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months. That means you’ll have 82,500 American Airlines miles after meeting the spending requirement. That’s enough miles for a roundtrip to Asia with one way in Business Class.

Oddly the award space is not showing on ba.com (and JAL is never searchable on aa.com), so you need to search on Japan Airlines’ website before calling American Airlines to book.

Product

Japan Airlines’ original Business Class product on its Dreamliners is angled. However its newer Dreamliners feature flat beds in Business Class.

The Dallas to Tokyo route flies a new Dreamliner. We know that because “SS8” appears on the search results for the flight. SS8 means the new flat beds are installed.

The product looks very good for Business Class. Although it is a 2-2-2 configuration, it looks like the window seats can access the aisle without climbing over the aisle seats.

Award Price and Where You Can Fly

The new route with amazing award space is Dallas to Tokyo-Narita. You can use it to fly from pretty much anywhere in America to anywhere in East Asia since Dallas is an American Airlines hub and Tokyo-Narita is a Japan Airlines hub.

From anywhere in the United States to Japan or Korea in Business Class is 50,000 American Airlines miles one way. To the rest of East and Southeast Asia is 55,000 American Airlines miles. The connections within the United States can be in American Airlines or Alaska Airlines First Class.

Award Searching and Award Space

Japan Airlines award space never shows up on aa.com. Normally you search it on ba.com, but for whatever reason, these flights don’t show up there.

Instead you need to search on jal.com. Before searching, you need to sign up for a free Mileage Bank account here.

Once signed into your account, click JAL International Award Ticket Reservation on the left menu.

Search from Dallas to Tokyo only. (Search connecting flights later on aa.com and ba.com.) Select Award Reservation Calendar to see a week’s worth of award space.

On the search results screen, you can toggle the number of passengers. An open circle means there is award space, and gray diamond means there is no award space. The flight only operates Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

Award space is great for two passengers, and there are even dates with eight award seats.

Booking

You can book any Japan Airlines award space you find on jal.com with American Airlines miles. To book, call American Airlines at 800-882-8880. Give the agent the date, flight number, and cabin of the award space you found. Confirm that the agent is NOT charging you a $40 phone fee, since the award cannot be booked online with American Airlines miles.

I called American Airlines to book the award space pictured above. The agent found the space easily, quoted me a price of 100,000 American Airlines miles roundtrip + $44.70 in taxes, and put the award space on a five day courtesy hold.

Getting the Miles

For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months.

The Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® also offers Admirals Club lounge membership, meaning you can access over 90 American Airlines Clubs in airports around the world whenever you’re flying–even if you’re not flying on American. Plus you can bring in any two guests for free OR your spouse and all children under 18 for free on each visit. This is why the card has a $450 annual fee; new membership in the Admirals Club usually costs $500.

Bottom Line

Japan Airlines has a great Business Class product on its Dreamliner from Tokyo to Dallas. Award space is wide open from December 2015 through August 2016 for 1-8 passengers in Business Class on most flights.

Business Class is only 50,000 American Airlines miles plus very low taxes each way. If you don’t live in Dallas, you can connect from anywhere in the United States on American Airlines flights for zero extra miles. If you don’t want to go to Tokyo, you can connect throughout East Asia for zero or 5,000 miles extra.

For a limited time, the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite™ MasterCard® offers 75,000 bonus American Airlines miles after spending $7,500 in the first three months.

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