JAL extends discounted upgrade campaign till March 2011 (yes 2011!)

Japan Airlines have been running two discounted upgrade campaigns in parallel for a while. I had a hard time figuring out what the differences are because one of the campaigns is for JAL Mileage Bank members in Japan only and therefore of course was only available in Japanese (Hopefully JAL will update their English site for this campaign too). After exchanging a couple of messages with a JAL traitor (you know who you are LOL), I finally figured out what the other discounted upgrade campaign is about. And guess what, JAL is extending that campaign till March 2011 (this is not a typo!)

Unlike the super discounted upgrade promotion, which is only available for flights to Europe and Americas, this special upgrade campaign is available on all flights. But the discount is not as great as the super discounted one. E.g. A roundtrip upgrade to the US only costs 20,000 miles using the Super Discounted Upgrade but costs 30,000 miles if you use this special upgrade promotion. This is exactly why it confused me in the first place. Why on earth would someone want to redeem this upgrade award to the US! I think another difference is the type of fare eligible for the promotion.

This is a Japan only promotion which is currently unavailable in other regions! And JMB members in Japan have been enjoying this discounted upgrade rate since April 1 2008! That's more than a year before JAL has the Super Discounted Upgrade campaign! Now I am really upset LOL Hopefully JAL will extend the Super Discounted Upgrade too. But then that will mean my hard-earned upgrade points will be devalued too :(

JAL has rolled out a couple of promotions lately. First it's the crazy birthday sale on domestic flights, and now extend this upgrade campaign for a FULL YEAR! No wonder ANA whines about unfair competition. But to be fair, JAL has been running this campaign for a while and had the birthday sale a few years ago :P So JAL, you have taken care of the domestic members, is it time to show some love for the overseas ones? All I ask for is give me a similar promotion!

Thanks fumitani, a.k.a. the traitor who joined the dark side, for the heads up :)

Related Posts:
JAL birthday upgrade and sale
JAL extends SUPER discounted upgrade award promotion