[Free Travel] How to tour the United States using JAL miles earned for free

I am Ripista-kami, and I spend my days researching how to make the most of the miles I have on hand.

Well, up until the last installment, I have been talking about various things with the theme of traveling around the world using Marriott points and UA miles, but from this time on, I would like to change the focus a little and talk about JAL miles.

I personally recognize JAL miles as being more important than ANA miles.

This is because the airport near my house does not have ANA flights, only JAL flights. By the way, the routes are only to Haneda and Itami. There are three round trips a day to Haneda and one round trip to Itami.

When there is only one round trip, you cannot choose the time to board while considering connecting flights, so the 'problem of travel time tending to be long,' where you inevitably have to stay overnight somewhere, is a common occurrence in the countryside, isn't it?

The nearest airport with ANA flights is Odate-Noshiro Airport in Akita Prefecture, so if you use ANA domestic flights to fly to Okinawa, you have to transfer like Odate-Noshiro -> Haneda -> Naha -> Miyakojima, and the downside is that the travel time becomes long and takes a lot of time.

There is a profitable way to use JAL miles!

Well, I love staying at hotels for free with Marriott points and making the most of ANA domestic flights with UA miles, so I don't use JAL miles in the ordinary way either.

If you try to book a domestic flight with JAL miles, for example from Misawa Airport in Aomori Prefecture to Okinawa Naha, it will cost 11,000 miles one way as shown below.

By the way, it is 13,200 miles to Miyakojima😱

In the past, you had to book each route separately, which was inconvenient, but I personally highly rate the fact that it is now displayed as a single through-ticket due to recent system changes.

However, it is cheaper to travel by land to Odate-Noshiro Airport and transfer from there, which only costs 8,000 miles one way, and considering the family, you can save a corresponding amount of miles, so I don't think going to Okinawa Naha on JAL can be called 'using miles profitably'.

Now that you know that simply using JAL miles for domestic flights is not a good idea, what kind of usage will make you feel even more profitable?

The answer is,

Exchange JAL miles for Oneworld award tickets or partner airline award tickets

.

For example, there is a resort called Koh Samui in Thailand.

The airport on Koh Samui is owned by a company called Bangkok Airways, and no other airlines are allowed to fly there.

In other words, 100% of people flying to Koh Samui must buy a ticket from Bangkok Airways.

However, since JAL miles are partnered with Bangkok Airways, you can book a flight without spending any cash, meaning you can go to Koh Samui for free.

You can book your flight from Japan to Bangkok separately using miles, and by booking the Japan-Bangkok leg and the Bangkok-Samui leg separately, you can arrange award tickets for each.

During my last trip around the world, I had a plan to stop by Bangkok, and it is also convenient to use when incorporating a single round-trip to somewhere within such an itinerary.

For routes flown by Thai Airways, such as Phuket, it is more economical to use UA miles to fly there 👍

And one more thing, what I mainly wanted to share today is the exchange for Oneworld award tickets.

For example, it is very easy to use when you want to go on a tour of the United States for about 1 to 2 weeks.

Specifically, since it is an economical plan when touring any region using only airlines that are members of Oneworld, you should consider using it not only for the United States, but also when touring only Asia or only Europe.

Note that as a rule, the system allows you to book and issue tickets for up to 6 segments, so even though it is a tour, you can think of it as being able to visit 4 to 5 cities in practice, excluding the 2 segments for leaving and returning to Japan.

For other rules, please refer to the official JAL website.

Today I will cover the United States, and next time I will specifically present plans for Asia and Europe.

So, touring the United States.

This time, I came up with a plan to travel from Japan to Hawaii, Los Angeles, Orlando (Florida Disney), and New York, and then return home directly from New York.

First, please check the overall flow in the image. I have presented this in economy class, where seats are easier to secure. Business class is highly competitive, so while it might be possible if you are traveling solo, securing seats for two or more people is likely to be extremely difficult.

If it is economy class, you should be able to find flights that can accommodate groups of 2 to 4 people. It seems like you could even make your dream of a family trip touring the United States a reality.

I flew 5 routes this time, but you can still add one more to this.

And whether or not you add that one extra, this kind of US tour plan costs 90,000 miles.

By the way, while a simple round trip to Hawaii costs 40,000 miles in economy, considering fuel surcharges and the like, my impression is that a tour plan allows you to use your miles and money more efficiently.

Of course, you need a fair amount of time to go on a tour, and it would be best to have at least two weeks of leeway to enjoy your trip in a relaxed manner.

You might find it difficult because you don't have the time while you are working hard in your prime, but I think it is worth remembering that when traveling by plane using miles, you are not limited to simple round trips to a single city; there are also types where you stay in multiple cities and patterns where you use multiple airlines at the same time.

Next time, I would like to apply this case to explain Asian and European versions.

See you next time!