Japan Airlines has made another announcement/clarification regarding the recent JMB rumors.
JAL states that we shouldn't worry about the JMB miles in our account they will still be! They strongly support the independent restructuring and will continue to maintain a safe operation and service quality. Of course it also asks you to keep flying with them LOL
But what JAL doesn't say is if the miles will be devalued. Something like increasing the miles required to redeem awards is absolutely possible. Or even implementing something similar to ANA's peak vs non-peak period awards will also devalue the miles. One other possibility is to implement a distance based award. Right now a JFK-NRT and SFO-NRT award ticket costs exactly the same amount of miles even though JFK is quit a bit further away from NRT. This might be a fairer scheme and not devalue the miles as much. But all these are just my 2 cents.
Source: JAL Japan (Japanese only)
I hope JAL is still around in the long run but I'm glad I used my last 90k miles for a C award leaving Sun to MNL. Remember how hard it was to get an upgrade or an award a few years ago? No problem getting seats now less than 3 weeks out.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a smart move and will help JAL's balance sheet. I tried doing the same too but I just keep getting more of them. By the end of the year I should have enough for a transpacific Y ticket LOL
ReplyDeleteIt actually surprised me when I called JMB to check upgrade availability on my coming flights. Even the website has zero C award availability, but there are plenty of upgrade seats available. I will enjoy this while it lasts.
I think most likely JAL will be around in the long run but I have a feeling that things won't be the same. JAL might become the old JAS which focused on domestic flights and had limited regional international flights. If that happens, I will just ask ANA to match my status (good that my company has contract with *A :) But I hope they will give me the equivalent of JGC and not have me qualify by flying and achieve their Sapphire equivalent status first.
And have a pleasant flight, Black Adder!
Let me know if ANA give you the status match because I'll do the same.:)
ReplyDeleteYup, should be a good flight. Was going to fly out of LAX but no 773 on that route yet and it was about $100 cheaper to fly AA DEN-LAX-SFO than DEN-LAX. Only downside is that I have to spend the night in SFO but Priority Club had a Pointbreak special going on so only 5k points needed instead of 15k. Combine that with the 10% discount on my AA ticket and booking my JAL ticket before the fuel surcharge went up and it came out to be a very cheap trip!
I will only do this as my last resort. Hopefully I don't have to do that but if I do at least ANA gives their elites free upgrade to premium economy if seats are available at check in. You will definitely know when I switch...by then you will have to call me ANAPak instead LOL
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