Partner Award JL vs CX

[Maverick17]

As I understand AA rules, I can book now from SGN-BOI with JL as the main carrier, and if award space opens later close to departure I can switch to CX, since the O-D stays the same? Is this correct?

I enjoying trying new stuff, anyone here vote for J in JL 788 (first time) over J in CX 777 (flew it twice)?

 

[Hutch]

Pretty sure changing partners is considered a chargeable change. Call but I recall that rule when I was inquiring last week about different partners

 

[sriki]

As I understand AA rules, I can book now from SGN-BOI with JL as the main carrier, and if award space opens later close to departure I can switch to CX, since the O-D stays the same? Is this correct?

I enjoying trying new stuff, anyone here vote for J in JL 788 (first time) over J in CX 777 (flew it twice)?

I think @Hutch is right but I never did that.

I flew first & business on CX. That being my only first is pretty high up on my list. The business class is alright after that. I never flew business on JL but I will be next January (JL002: HND to SFO). It's currently angle flat but they are reconfiguring this flight and it will be fully flat by the time I fly. Check the below link for those changes (if you haven't looked at it yet).

http://www.jal.co.jp/en/inflight/inter/rosen/index03.html

 

[Matt]

Pretty sure changing partners is considered a chargeable change. Call but I recall that rule when I was inquiring last week about different partners

I've never done it on AA, but I think you are right. If you start out with a certain mix of partners you have to keep them. I seem to recall somewhere that if the 'mix' remains the same, along with the O/D then you can change the routing without fee.

 

[Rich]

Pretty sure changing partners is considered a chargeable change. Call but I recall that rule when I was inquiring last week about different partners

Good news: airline changes are free! As are routing changes and date changes. Destination and origin must remain the same.

I can confirm from a few of my own booking experiences.

See http://anonym.to/?http://http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2014/08/04/airline-award-ticket-change-fees/
and
http://anonym.to/?http://www.flyerguide.com/Award_Redemption_(AA)#Changing_an_Award

 

[MickiSue]

Also, because when you book far ahead, it's pretty inevitable that there will be flight changes between booking and flying. ANY flight change can be a reason to call and ask for a change in scheduling, at no fee.

Keep track of the flights that you want, and availability on them. Then, when you get the email telling you that one of your flights has changed, you can call to change and suggest the one that you want to the CS person. It goes without saying that you are polite and regretful that the flight you first booked now won't work...but it looks like this one will, would that be OK???

 

[TheBOSman]

Ahhhh the enjoyable vagaries of AA awards . My expertise is being a third year AA EXP and having redeemed some absurd high six figure number of AA miles over the past few years .

First off, OP, is there a single fare basis SGN-BOI on any carrier that allows either JL or CX as the overwater carrier as well as routing to BOI? AA hasn't served BOI for a while, so you might have some difficulty with this. I haven't checked Expertflyer or elsewhere to see if such a fare basis exists. I would consider calling AA and attempting to book an economy award if you aren't sure, put it on hold and simply let it expire and you should be able to find out easily enough.

Next off, as @Rich notes, airline changes are free, along with routing and date changes. If you book a Saver award A-B, you can change from any routing to any other legal routing (i.e. meeting the above conditions of published fare and allowed routings and airline combinations), or date, or airline, for free; as long as A and B do not change and all travel is completed within 365 days of initial booking date. If A or B change, that is where the fees come in.

I personally like JL a lot, but the JL 788 J is angled flat according to what I've seen, while CX 777 J is lie-flat. I've also only flown F for long haul on either airline. If you sleep well enough in angled flat (I sleep poorly in almost all cabins ), I would go with JL J. If not, go with CX. Of course, CX also means less time in regional product, unless JL operates a long haul product to SGN (haven't checked and don't know off the top of my head).

 

[Maverick17]

Thanks for all the replies folks. I missed the angled lie-flat issue, that's a rough one for me I don't sleep so well on angled seats. I'm a bit top heavy, if you know what I mean, and slide down. But since it's a Christmas season award, might have to go for it and hope to catch up on movies or change out later as I'm doubtful of finding much other space booking this late. Was surprised to find good JL availability, but only on the 788 to SAN.

I've not ever done fare analysis bosman, but I've flown lots of AA awards to BOI with AS. It was mostly uncertainty if I was remembering correctly you can change airlines that led me to post, but if I have trouble getting a ticket I will revisit the idea of looking for a fare basis.

Edit to Add: I see JL adding their 767 version of the Sky Suite to the SGN routes, so it actually looks fully flat and pretty nice. On the HND to SFO route the 777 should have that version of Sky Suite too, but they make it hard to see if it's really lie-flat in the images. So might stick with that, but I'll browse FT trip reports.

 

[TheBOSman]

777-300 is lie flat, I can personally verify that. If you're flying after 12/1, you should get that on SFO-HND.

If you've flown a lot of AA awards to/from BOI (especially to/from Asia) then you should be all set. I just know sometimes there aren't qualifying underlying paid fares when both endpoints are not overly common. SGN is common enough though so you should be ok.

 

[Maverick17]

777-300 is lie flat, I can personally verify that. If you're flying after 12/1, you should get that on SFO-HND.

Thanks. I'm gonna grab the one JL seat I can see via HND/SFO and go from there. If not quite as nice as CX, at least after NRT many times I can finally add HND to my list. And I just noticed Sriki talked about this flight before, and since I was thinking 787 when I read it I totally missed that. Sorry Sriki, you're right about the flight and 002 is the one I'm looking at as well.

Side note: Looking at the JL website, which Sriki mentions above, they have an exceptionally informative page for what seats are available on which flights.

 

[carlos]

Last summer I made 2 changes from AA to CX with no problem and no fee, origin and destination were the same, BTW CX opens availability 2-4 days prior to departure so I suggest you keep changing CX F or C is AWESOME

 

[Maverick17]

Thanks for the reply. I've booked CX last minute before and it is very nice. But I usually just totally booked the ticket last minute, without booking early and changing over. This time I want to try out HND and JL's J product, so I decided to stick with what I have. Appreciate the comment though.

 

[tmount]

So, I just flew the JL 788 in J and was really impressed. Caveat, it was just HNd to PEK, but (1) the JAL F lounge (if you have EXP) beats the heck out of the CX lounges that I've been to. 15 mins massage, shoe shine, chef, all these are in the HND JL F lounge. Second, the service was great. This was compared to flying ANA F two days before. I'm not saying it was better than ANA, but I really enjoyed it. For a 4 hour flight, the angled lay flat was fine, but for a 12-15 hour flight, I can imagine would be more challenging.

 

[rhinodh]

Thanks for the reply. I've booked CX last minute before and it is very nice. But I usually just totally booked the ticket last minute, without booking early and changing over. .

Last summer I made 2 changes from AA to CX with no problem and no fee, origin and destination were the same, BTW CX opens availability 2-4 days prior to departure so I suggest you keep changing CX F or C is AWESOME

+1 I did this earlier this year. Had AA F booked to HKG but at 24hrs CX opened up F out of ORD and I switched for no fee (AA Gold).

CX F was awesome. I drank a lot of Johnny Walker Blue

 

[Maverick17]

I'll follow up with a couple quick notes, since I flew the flight today. I won't do a trip report, but if anyone wants to know more feel free to ask here or PM me.

I loved the JL seat, preferred it to CX. JL 777 feels much more roomy to me than CX. JL 767 was also very nice, but not quite as roomy as the 777.

I don't require a lot from flight attendants, but found JL very helpful and friendly. Same as CX.

Haneda is a nice airport. I did the train through Tokyo cuz I don't like buses, and it was super easy to make the NRT-HND transfer without checked luggage. If I checked big bags, I would do the bus direct.

IFE had a nice screen, but as FT mentions, not many choices. About 10 western movies I guess. The other big FT complaint with JL is hot planes. My SGN-NRT flight was pretty warm, HND-SFO was fine.

Both flights were only about half full in J, even though every other night had no award seats available. I don't know how many JL releases, or maybe just cuz it was Saturday night not as much demand.

Lastly, CX allowed me into their SFO lounge while connecting from JL Biz to Alaska domestic F, since there is no boardroom in SFO.