Yesterday, Capital One added Japan Airlines Mileage Bank as a transfer partner. That caused me to take a dive into the Mileage Bank program. In short, this is a huge add for Capital One. From Air France without surcharges to Emirates and British Airways with more reasonable surcharges to what may be the second cheapest option for getting to Europe in Business Class to make-your-own-round-the-world functionality, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is chock full of things to get excited about. This post covers some of the best uses.
The Bad News
While there is a lot to be excited about, there are some negatives worth knowing before you get yourself invested in Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank 36-month hard expiration policy
The worst thing about Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is that the program features a hard expiration policy. Miles expire at the end of the month 36 months from the date they were earned/transferred in. There is no way to extend validity or reinstate expired miles.
In other words, if you transfer miles to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank on 1/1/26), those miles will expire at the end of January 2029. Use them or lose them, there is no way to extend them or get them back.
I hate hard expiration policies because they create a real headache, particularly if your original plans change. For instance, you might transfer today and book a flight scheduled for about a year from now. If plans change a week or two before your trip, you are now stuck with miles that will expire after 2 more years.
Sadly, there are carrier-imposed surcharges
Japan Airlines does charge and pass on carrier-imposed surcharges — in some cases. Of key importance is the fact that surcharges on partner airlines may not be as bad as you expect — read on in the post for surprising sweet spots.
However, when it comes to redeeming your miles for travel on Japan Airlines, there is no escaping surcharges if you are using Japan Airlines Mileage Bank. See this chart for full surcharge details.
Family restrictions on award redemption
Like several other carriers in the region, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank limits members to redeeming miles for themselves and family members. Here is the flow chart that Japan Airlines publishes to demonstrate for whom a member can redeem miles:
It notes under the chart that a relative whose last name is different from that of the JMB member may be required to show proof of relationship. I am not sure how enforcement works, but be aware that the program expressly prohibits redemption for those not related by blood or marriage. In fact, according to that flow chart, a member could not even redeem for a niece or nephew, so keep this restriction in mind.
JAL Mileage Bank awards can not be changed (but they can be cancelled for a reasonable fee)
Unfortunately, Japan Airlines Mileage Bank does not allow changes to ticketed awards (not even to class of service). The good news is that they have a very reasonable award cancellation fee of 3,100 JPY (about $21 at the current exchange rate). That’s a great deal for award cancellation, so if you wish to change you can just pay the fee to cancel and then rebook the award you want.
Best uses of Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
Despite the few negative points listed in the previous section, there are plenty of things to love about Japan Airlines Mileage Bank. The following sections outline many of the positives and sweet spot best uses.
Book award tickets 360 days in advance with JAL Mileage Bank
One of the best things about Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is the ability to book farther in the future than most programs allow.
While it varies by airline, most airline frequent flyer programs begin offering bookings approximately 330 days prior to departure. Japan Airlines Mileage Bank allows for booking 360 days prior to departure, which is nearly a full year in advance.
The result is that it is often possible to scoop up availability at the end of the booking calendar before those flights become available to other partners.
Access expanded Japan Airlines award space for Mileage Bank members
Like several other airlines in Asia (namely Singapore Krisflyer, EVA, and Cathay Pacific), Japan Airlines Mileage Bank offers more award space on its own flights to its own members than to other frequent flyer programs.
It is important to note that I did not find wide availability for awards at the lowest pricing levels. However, when running test searches yesterday, I was shocked at how often I could find seats for an entire family of four in premium cabins at reasonable enough prices.
For instance, here is a look at Tokyo to Chicago for four passengers next September. As you can see, most days have availability for four passengers at 80,000 miles each, plus about $214.94 per passenger in taxes & fees.
I found that same pattern to hold true to Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Dallas. Nearly every date I tried toward the end of the schedule had availability for four passengers at 80,000 miles each.
Again, that isn’t their best price. Awards price as low as 55,000 miles one-way in business class between Japan and the United States. I did find some of that award space, but I was more impressed by how much availability I saw at 80K. While 80,000 miles is a relatively “normal” business class award price between Asia and the US, the key here is the breadth of availability. You can theoretically book Japan Airlines business class for fewer miles with some programs, but finding availability for four passengers is much harder.
I was even more surprised at how often I found four seats in first class, even on the new A350 first class product. Here’s a look at availability during a September 2026 week for four passengers in first class from Tokyo to Dallas-Fort Worth. Update: As pointed out by David in the comments, much of this first class space is really “wait list” space rather than confirmable space.
While 125,000 miles certainly isn’t cheap, neither is it unreasonable for an 11.5hr flight where they serve champagne that goes for ~$1,200 per bottle if and when you can find confirmable space available.
Economy class between Japan and the US for 27K miles
While most of the sweet spot best uses I will cover in this post are related to business or first class redemptions, it is worth noting that Japan Airlines Mileage Bank charges a downright reasonable 27,000 miles and ~$213.53 for an economy class redemption between Tokyo and New York.
About $142 of the taxes & fees is a standard Japan Airlines carrier-imposed surcharge, which is kind of a bummer. On the other hand, when you consider the aforementioned expanded access that Japan Airlines provides to Mileage Bank members, this is a worthy option to keep in mind as you may find it easier to find availability, particularly for multiple passengers.
Business class between Japan and the US from 55K Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles
As mentioned above, you can sometimes find business class awards for travel on Japan Airlines Mileage Bank for as few as 55,000 miles and about $214.
That’s awesome when you can find it, and I did find some dates available at that price at the end of the booking calendar. That said, this is a bit of a unicorn in that I didn’t find very much availability at the 55K level.
Japan Airlines partner awards
Japan Airlines has an interesting set of partners, including some non-oneworld partners (even some from rival alliances).
Many of these partners can be booked online, though the process is not always intuitive.
Here are partner airlines that you should be able to book online:
There are some excellent potential deals to be had within that list of partner airlines.
Note that finding the appropriate search tool isn’t necessarily intuitive.
After logging in to your Japan Airlines Mileage Bank account, you’ll have to navigate to the award tickets section, choose the “International” tab, and then “JMB Partner Airlines Award Tickets”.
The complicated nature of the site doesn’t end there as you’ll have to choose whether you want to search “JAL International Award Tickets” (for travel on Japan Airlines), “JMB Partner Airlines Award Tickets”, or “oneworld Award Tickets” (and then in the row below the top tabs, you’ll see tabs for round-trip / one-way, staying in multiple cities, etc).
Finding the right tool requires some trial and error.
If you want to book multiple oneworld airlines on a single one-way award with multiple stopovers, you want the oneworld Award Tickets tool. If you want an award for travel on one partner only, whether it be a oneworld partner or not a oneworld partner, you need to select the JMB Partner Airlines Award Ticket and choose the partner airline you wish to search.
For instance, I came across availability in business class on American Airlines from Madrid to New York, but that flight would only show up via the JMB Partner Airlines Award Ticket tool with American Airlines selected. It did not come up via the oneworld tool unless paired with a flight on at least one other oneworld airline.
Unfortunately, it appears that there is not an easy way to search all partner airlines at the same time. The oneworld tool will search all oneworld airlines, but you won’t be able to use it to book if your itinerary only includes one oneworld airline.
There is definitely a learning curve to using the search tool, but it is worth investing some time in it for some of the following partner award use cases.
Book Emirates Business Class for reasonable rates
Emirates no longer makes first class awards available to most partner airlines. Those that do have access to business class award space generally have very high surcharges on Emirates awards or significantly higher award pricing for Emirates awards than with other partners.
However, Japan Airlines still enjoys access to business class award space on Emirates at what are, in some cases, very reasonable rates (and with reasonable or reasonable-ish surcharges).
For instance, you can book Emirates business class on the A380 from Milan to New York for just 60,000 miles and about $158 in taxes & fees. That is far better than what you’d pay if booking through Emirates.
You can do even better if departing from Australia. The long flight from Sydney, Australia to Dubai, UAE, rings in at 80,000 miles and about $81 in taxes and fees.
As a point of comparison, Emirates is charging 152,500 miles and $1,245 AUD (about $825 USD) for the same flight.
You are much better off booking that through Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
That said, surcharges aren’t quite that low on most routes, though mileage rates can still make for some solid deals.
For instance, Bangkok to Dubai in business class on Emirates rings in at 42,000 miles and about $431.50.
Singapore to Dubai was about the same. Cape Town, South Africa to Dubai costs 60,000 miles and about $410 in taxes & fees in business class.
Unfortunately, flights to/from the United States appear to have high surcharges. I found Emirates business class availability from Dubai to New York and Boston for 80,000 Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles, but the taxes & fees came to more than $900 one-way (including when transiting Milan), so this probably won’t be the best way to get to/from the United States apart from the 5th freedom routes to/from Europe. Otherwise, you can still do well on many Emirates routes outside of the United States through Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
Book LATAM between New York or Miami and Santiago for 60K and $5.60
While I was just recently lamenting the loss of Alaska Mileage Plan for booking LATAM awards, Japan Airlines is also a good option for booking LATAM business class to and from South America.
For instance, New York or Miami to Santiago came to 60,000 miles and just $5.60 in taxes.
That’s certainly not a bad deal for a flight stretching as long as 10.5 hours.
I did not find availability on legs connecting beyond Santiago, though I expect they may cost a bit more depending on total mileage flown. Given the fact that Japan Airlines allows for complicated stopover awards, there are surely opportunities to maximize the chance to visit multiple destinations.
Book Air France business class without surcharges!
While I vaguely recalled that oneworld member Japan Airlines has what feels like an unlikely partnership with SkyTeam program Air France / KLM Flying Blue, the biggest surprise for me was in the Air France awards I found.
Booking awards for travel on Air France / KLM usually means paying around $250 in taxes & fees each way (more in some cases) thanks to moderate surcharges, which are passed on by all partner airlines I’d previously checked.
I was therefore very pleasantly surprised to find awards like this nonstop business class award on Air France from Orlando, FL (MCO) to Paris, France (CDG) for just 60,000 Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles and just $5.60 in taxes & fees.
Unfortunately, finding availability was not terribly simple. I used Seats.aero to check for Air France flights available to be booked through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, but, unfortunately, Japan Airlines did not have access to all the same space I found available through Virgin Atlantic. Still, I eventually landed on one of those Virgin Atlantic search results that was also available to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank for the screenshot above.
This is definitely a sweet spot I plan to monitor since Air France has a decent business class product and sometimes has good availability out of the northeast airports to/from Europe. Snagging that without surcharges seems great to me!
Book British Airways with reasonable surcharges
British Airways is known for its high surcharges and for the fact that surcharges are passed on by all partners. If you tend to book awards through programs like American Airlines AAdvantage or Alaska Atmos Rewards, you have probably seen surcharges in the range of $700 to $1,000 each way.
However, we have reported before that oneworld partner Cathay Pacific Asia Miles passes on much more moderate surcharges on British Airways. The same is true for Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, but Japan Airlines charges even fewer miles to go along with the reduced surcharges.
For instance, I found New York (JFK) to London (LHR) for 42,000 miles and about $219 in taxes & fees.
Connecting beyond London adds some additional taxes, but an award from New York to Milan, Italy was still pretty reasonable at 60,000 miles and about $279 in taxes & fees.
The nice thing about the fact that most programs include very high surcharges on most British Airways premium cabin awards is that it tends to discourage members from booking those awards. In turn, that means that you’ll probably find good availability via a program like Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, where you can potentially score a great deal.
Book American Airlines business class to Europe from 42K and $48
If the British Airways surcharges are too rich for your blood, you’ll want to hunt down American Airlines award space, which can be booked between the East Coast and Europe for as few as 42,000 miles one-way. Here’s a look at Madrid to New York in business class on American Airlines for 42,000 miles and $46.21.
That particular flight had 7 seats available via Japan Airlines Mileage Bank. While I did not find wide availability for the American Airlines routes I checked, it is certainly worth keeping an eye out for situations where it is an option, given that this is one of the best deals you’ll find via any program for business class between Europe and the United States.
Book complicated multi-partner awards with multiple stopovers
Advanced hobbyists interested in more complicated itineraries will enjoy playing with the Japan Airlines award search tool.
In fact, if you were disappointed about the fact that ANA eliminated its round-the-world award chart, you may find Japan Airlines Mileage Bank to revive your round-the-world dreams.
That’s because Japan Airlines allows for up to seven stopovers on a oneworld award ticket or up to three stopovers on a non-oneworld partner award ticket for no additional fee. To be clear, a stopover is not the same thing as a layover. A stopover is the chance to stop and visit a city for more than 24 hours before continuing on. You can do that up to seven times on a oneworld award with Japan Airlines.
Multi-stop oneworld awards price according to the following chart, based on the cumulative distance flown:
Some of those distance bands, particularly the one from 20,000 to 25,000 miles flown for 150,000 miles in business class, compare favorably to the old (and no longer available) ANA round the world award chart.
Miles Talk points out that JAL offers a distance calculator here that can help you calculate your distance band based on your desired routing (or you could accomplish the same with the Great Circle Mapper if gcmap.com is working or via the Great Circle Map function via Seats.aero).
Japan Airlines Mileage Plan offers the following example itinerary on its website, which shows a trip from Tokyo with stopovers to visit Los Angeles, New York, and Orlando before connecting in Chicago en route back to Tokyo for 35,000 total miles in economy class (or 130,000 miles in business class).
Testing the search tool, I found examples like this one from Kuala Lumpur to New York with stopovers in Doha and Casablanca (and flights on Malaysian Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Royal Air Maroc) for 110,000 miles and about $457 in taxes & fees. While the taxes and fees might feel a bit high, keep in mind that this itinerary includes 3 airlines and two stopovers of multiple days each.
You can theoretically build in more than the above, though in my example searches, I ran into some inexplicable roadblocks. My understanding is that backtracking isn’t allowed, but I see contradictory routing rules published by various sites. The jury is still out on exactly how this can be stretched, but suffice it to say that there are a lot of possibilities pending the right availability. You can even theoretically hop around the United States on American / Alaska with multiple stopovers.
Bottom line
This post contains some of the nuggets I found while digging into Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, though there are other good uses worth a shoutout as well, such as domestic flights within Japan for reasonable prices and premium economy awards, which can be a solid deal (and might have greater availability). The truth is that Japan Airlines Mileage Bank has a lot of “sweet spot” type awards. This program is defintely worth some time and attention for those with Capital One miles, particularly while the 30% transfer bonus is in effect.
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Nick,
were you using Virgin Atlantic help you find the LATAM/SCL seats? looks like route options are drying up except for out of MIA for next south american ski season.
thanks
Does JAL have access to the same Biz class award inventory Emirates shows on their website? Tried a couple of searches and came up empty (those were showing bookable using Emirates Skywards)
I’d assume not – I would guess it’s probably the same inventory available to Qantas.
Surely not. Very few if any programs release the same amount of inventory to partners as to their own members.
Nick,
For booking family members do I need to register them first (like with Korean Air), or can I just book directly? If it’s the latter, will it still allow me to book for my mother-in-law even though she has a different last name?
Actually… as I’m writing this, I’m realizing that might be my perfect excuse to leave her behind.
Good question. I haven’t booked anything yet, so I’m not sure.
Nick, how much would be for economy for those AA flights to Europe that you found for 42K in business?
Has anyone made transfers to JL from Capital One? Are those transfers instantaneous?
Yes, I transferred 1000 C1 points to JAL and it went thru right away (950 JAL points). I tried it and it worked!
That’s good to know. Years ago, I transferred some Marriott/SPG points to JL and it took nearly 2 weeks for the miles to show up. Thanks.
That’s standard practice with Marriott transfers. They take about that long to most (if not all) of their airline partners.
Multiple DPs have indicated that transfers from Capital One to JAL are instantaneous, just as Rene reports here.
If capital one does a JAL transfer bonus from time to time (yearly if I’m being optimistic) I think this would still be a awesome use for my capital one miles
Why do they not do that on EVA?
That’s because EVA charges its (few) partners too much for transferring points to its program.
Thank you for this great article, one I need to bookmark! Did I hear you say on the coffee break episode that there is a 7 day waiting period for miles to be transferred from Capital One to JAL? If that is the case, maybe you want to mention that up front as well to avoid surprises…
Thank you!
That’s the delay if you open up the JL mileage bank account for the first time at time of transfer. If you have a JL account that’s more than a week old, it should transfer immediately.
Perfect, thank you so much for clarifying that!
Confirming Dr. Know is correct about that. That’s why on the podcast episode you’re referencing, we recommended opening a JAL account right away, whether you think you need it right now or not so that your account is seasoned and ready when you are.
JetBlue mint transcontinental and to Europe for 42k is missing.
I couldn’t get the search tool to price a domestic award within the United States. Do you know the trick? It errored out on me every time. I couldn’t get it to price domestic AA awards either. I knew JetBlue to Europe would be a good deal, but I couldn’t find any availability in a handful of searches, so I had moved on. You’re right though that it should be a good deal!
Thank you for diving into this! I agree the addition of JAL is a nice add. Unfortunately many of the sweet spots you flagged become a lot less sweet when you factor in the 4:3 transfer ratio from C1. The current 30% transfer bonus levels the playing field, but with the hard expiration policy I’d be hesitant to speculatively transfer. Some of these could still be a good deal even at 4:3, such as 55k in business on JAL (74k at 4:3 ratio), but others don’t fare as well. For example, saving $250 on Air France is a lot less compelling when you have transfer in 80k to book that award (you’re basically cashing in 20k points at 1.2 cpp, assuming these seats would be available via FlyingBlue at the 60k rate) — personally I’d rather pay the surcharges and book with Flying Blue in that case for the added flexibility you get from booking via the operating carrier in the event of a schedule change — not to mention that there are frequently transfer bonuses to Flying Blue across the various transferable currency programs. Anyway, I don’t mean to come across as negative about the post — I really enjoyed it! — but I do think a reminder about the transfer ratio is probably a good idea (maybe under the “negatives” list?), as I expect many will not keep that top of mind.
Yeah, there’s no doubt that these will be more expensive when C1 loses the transfer bonus, but, as I commented in response to someone else, I think there is still plenty of appeal (and there obviously will be if and when they have another transfer bonus). And folks who also have Bilt points will likely find it useful to be able to combine forces.
As for rather paying the surcharges vs “overpaying” via JAL (since you’d pay 80K to JAL vs 60K to Flying Blue), I certainly understand why you’d rather pay 20K fewer miles (assuming the same flight were available via Air France for 60K) and add the surcharges than pay 80K Capital One miles without surcharges. On the flip side, as someone paying those surcharges x 4 passengers, I end up looking at nearly $2,000 RT in taxes & fees on Air France. I’ve paid it before and it’s not that it is a bad deal, but given that I have a decent stash of Capital One miles, I could imagine paying 80K without surcharges if that were the flight I wanted. Beyond that, I didn’t dig in far enough to know whether this is the case via JAL, but in the past I have seen many awards available to partners like Virgin Atlantic that were *not* available at the lowest level via Flying Blue. I didn’t check whether that was the case here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it won’t always be an either/or situation but rather the one that is actually available wins.
Totally fair, and I agree there is still plenty of value to be had at 4:3. I was actually just comparing the rates for east coast to Europe to what Cathay Pacific charges (since Cathay also opens their award calendar early and moderates surcharges), and even at the 4:3 ratio JAL comes out ahead (not by a ton, but still!). I also get the point of this post is to dig into the JAL award chart, not highlight C1 sweet spots. That said, just as you highlighted in your other response, what makes this program so interesting now is the fact that it has far broader appeal thanks to the C1 transfer option — and with that being the case the transfer ratio becomes more important than it might be when discussing other programs where you have a variety of options. I’m not suggesting you need to list the award chart price AND what that would cost in C1 miles for every example on here, but IMHO a reminder of the transfer ratio under the “bad news” section of the post is probably a good idea.
What this post is forgetting is that the transfer ratio from Capital One is not 1:1 (while there is a bonus currently brining it close to 1:1, that is not the case going forward).
All of these sweet spots aren’t so sweet when these awards are essentially 33% more in Capital One miles.
You’re absolutely right that they will cost more without a transfer bonus. That said, the main point of the post was to dig into best uses. Bilt transfers 1:1 also, but it didn’t feel worth trying to dig up a lot when that launched since it isn’t easily possible to amass nearly as many Bilt points. With the launch of the Capital One transfers, this program is newly accessible to a much broader number of people. While the motivation for the post was the launch of the Capital One partnership and current point transfer bonus, this isn’t really meant to be a post about best uses of Capital One points but rather a dive into the strengths of Japan Airlines Mileage Bank.
And, truth be told, even at 33% more, many people will find some of these awards well worth it. For instance, Emirates between New York and Milan for fewer miles and far less in surcharges than Emirates charges will still be appealing to some. AA biz for what would be about 56K Capital One miles and no surcharges is still a solid deal. Even the 80K business class options for what would effectively be 107K Capital One miles will be appealing for many folks since it is so much more widely available for multiple passengers than awards to/from Asia through most programs. So I think there is still plenty of value even with the poorer transfer ratio, but I’d certainly be eyeing a transfer bonus and/or if Bilt comes out with compelling new cards, I’d be even more interested in the chance to pick up JAL miles.
IDK, even without the transfer bonus, 56k to London with $210 in surcharges and great availability (because nobody else will touch BA flights with those fees) is still really good. If you combine with Cathay’s chart, this makes BA awards functional again with surcharges closer to Flying Blue. You can get a flight up to 4000 miles for 56k C1 miles (via JAL), a flight from 4000-5000 miles for 63k (via Cathay), a flight from 5000-6000 miles for 80k C1 (via JAL), and flights from 6000-7500 miles for 89k (via Cathay).
If you have Bilt points to use, the blended cost can go down even more (with 1:1, the JAL chart would be more favorable than Cathay in every case). None of this is going to be at Iberia to Europe, but it is very competitive with most awards. The big hangup is that the JAL website is hot garbage. I had to do security verification for each search day. Cathay’s site is a dream by comparison.
In the screenshot for the first class example, whats up with “wait list”? I was finding that yesterday as well
Oh, wow! I totally missed that. Updating.
What an fantastic resource. Thanks for writing this, and I don’t think anyone else has tried. I too have seen the wait list option in the past. Even so, I have noticed more real awards to JMB members than I find on AA, at least TYO-BOS/NYC.
So you can now book one way emirates flights with these miles? Used to be they had to be round trip.
You’re thinking of ANA.