[Free Travel] Considering an Asia Tour and Europe Tour using JAL Miles on Oneworld Member Airlines

Hello, this is Ripista-kami. I often fantasize about going on a backpacking trip abroad with my son, who is currently 4 years old (in his first year of kindergarten), once he gets older.

Well, last time, I talked about the theme of using JAL miles not just for simple round-trip travel, but for touring the United States more affordably using Oneworld member airlines.

In short, the point was that there are more active, flexible, and cost-effective ways to use miles than just picking one destination for a simple round trip, such as incorporating routes from airlines partnered with JAL into your itinerary or planning a trip that involves traveling between multiple cities from the start.

Since I only touched on the US tour plan last time, I would like to continue this time by talking about an Asia tour and a Europe tour.

Each region has its own strengths and weaknesses regarding Oneworld member routes

I recently touched on topics related to the Star Alliance using UA miles, but both Star Alliance and Oneworld have different levels of convenience depending on the area, and you need to consider travel plans based on the member airlines.

For example, in the Oneworld alliance, in the Asia region, there are:

・Japan Airlines (Japan)
・Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
・Malaysia Airlines (Malaysia)
・SriLankan Airlines (Sri Lanka)

These airlines are members and fly from their main cities to various regions around the world.

Therefore, they are weak in places where Star Alliance was strong, such as Thailand and Singapore, and there are cases where you might waste time by having to use many connecting flights when planning your itinerary.

So, when you think about traveling around Asia using Oneworld, it is a good idea to build an itinerary that connects hubs like Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), and Sri Lanka (Colombo).

Asia tour plan with Oneworld award tickets

As with last time, the rules for award tickets are basically the same for an Asia tour. The required miles change depending on the distance flown, and you can fly up to 6 segments, for example.

As a concrete example, this time I thought about the following itinerary on the JAL award exchange website. All have direct flights available.

This is 5 segments, so please let your imagination run wild and think about how to incorporate one more segment somewhere.

You often notice a lot when you look at the images.

There is a lot to be learned by repeatedly turning these plans over in your mind, thinking, 'Maybe this, maybe that'.

Since you can use JAL for your outbound and return flights, I recommend limiting your travel to cities with direct JAL flights. If Cathay Pacific has many award seats available, it might also be a good idea to prioritize incorporating regions where Cathay Pacific offers direct flights.

Conversely, Bali (Denpasar Airport) in Indonesia is a popular travel destination in Asia, but it has few direct flights from Japan, with more flights coming from Malaysia or Singapore.

As you become more familiar with these airline route circumstances, planning your itinerary becomes even more fun.

By the way, for this itinerary, you will be flying a total of 5 segments, and believe it or not!

It only costs 40,000 miles!

Since 60,000 Marriott points can be exchanged for 20,000 miles plus a 5,000 bonus, with 120,000 points, you can easily enjoy this itinerary with 50,000 miles.

Of course, there are plenty of Marriott chain hotel options in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, and above all, a major benefit of the Asian region is that the points required per night are very low.

Kuala Lumpur, in particular, has some of the lowest costs per night in the world, and you can stay at a fine hotel for around 10,000 points. With free flights, free hotels, and low local food costs, the Asian region is a personal favorite of mine for touring.

Europe tour plan with Oneworld award tickets

Now, let's take a look at Europe.

Oneworld member airlines that are strong in the Eurozone include Finnair, British Airways (UK), and Iberia (Spain).

As you saw with Asia, based on the desire to use JAL for outbound and return flights, I came up with the following plan.

I also set Europe to 5 segments, but it is a bit irregular.

When searching for the itinerary this time, the option for London to Paris did not appear. So, how about traveling that segment by land instead? (Trains like the Eurostar are famous.)

Finland is the birthplace of the sauna, and I would highly recommend that all sauna enthusiasts experience an authentic sauna at least once. It seems there are famous ones near the capital, Helsinki, as well.

After Helsinki, this plan covers major countries and cities in Europe: the ancient city of Rome, the passionate city of Madrid (and then Barcelona, etc.), London—where I personally find the food to be lacking—and finally, Paris, France.

Of course, since it connects the capitals of each country, you can explore regional cities by train, or arrange separate flights to travel by air. If you have the time and ideas, it seems you could move around as much as you like.

Since Europe is far, it costs 90,000 miles, just like the US. Also, I felt the fuel surcharges were quite high.

So, this time I have summarized the results of considering an Asia tour and a Europe tour using Oneworld award tickets with JAL miles.

Personally, I feel that traveling in the Asian region offers the best value for money, but at the same time, I would like everyone to visit the US and Europe at least once in their lifetime.

In the end, I think the conclusion will be that Japan is the best because there are no fuel surcharges, and I will live a life of using up ANA domestic flights (especially to Okinawa) by exchanging Marriott points for UA miles lol.

See you later!