For many years it’s been possible to transfer Marriott Bonvoy points to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank on a 3:1 basis, getting an additional 5,000 bonus miles for every 60,000 points you transfer over (i.e. 60K Marriott points = 25K Japan Airlines miles). It’s also been possible to transfer Japan Airlines (JAL) miles to Marriott on a 4:3 basis, but that’s been an extremely poor value proposition.
That was, historically, the extent of the partnership, but it’s now been expanded further for loyalty program members on both sides thanks to a newly deepened partnership between the two programs.
You can link your Marriott Bonvoy and Japan Airlines Mileage Bank accounts here. Here’s how the partnership works.
Marriott Bonvoy members
Marriott Bonvoy members earn FLY ON Points with Japan Airlines which is the metric by which you earn elite status in the Mileage Bank program. Those status points are awarded each status year based on your Marriott elite status level, rather than it being x number of points per stay:
- Base member – 2,000 FLY ON Points
- Silver – 5,000 FLY ON Points
- Gold – 10,000 FLY ON Points
- Platinum – 20,000 FLY ON Points
- Titanium – 30,000 FLY ON Points
- Ambassador – 40,000 FLY ON Points
Here’s a chart that shows the number of FLY ON Points (or FLY ON Points + number of qualifying points) required to earn elite status with Japan Airlines.
As you can see, the 30,000 FLY ON Points you’ll receive as a Marriott Titanium elite member, or the 40,000 you’ll receive as an Ambassador elite member, are enough to get you Crystal status in Mileage Bank. That in turn equates over to Ruby status in the Oneworld Alliance.
It would also put you well on the path to Sapphire status with Japan Airlines which also equates to Oneworld Sapphire status which is a much more worthwhile elite status level to have than Ruby seeing as Oneworld Sapphire via Japan Airlines gets you access to business class lounges (including American Airlines lounges when traveling domestically), priority check-in, and more.
Now, you might notice that if qualifying for elite status with Japan Airlines via FLY ON Points alone, it requires half of those points (other than Diamond Metal status) to have been earned via flights on JAL Group. Thankfully, Loyalty Lobby has confirmed that the FLY ON Points earned via this partnership do count as points earned via JAL Group flights.
That means that those with Marriott Platinum status would still be eligible for Japan Airlines Crystal status when crediting partner flights to their Mileage Bank account, but not Sapphire status unless they also earned an additional 5,000 FLY ON Points via flights in the JAL Group. Meanwhile, Marriott Titanium and Ambassador members can earn up to Sapphire status with Japan Airlines without having to also take flights on JAL Group as the 30,000 or 40,000 FLY ON Points respectively are more than the 25,000 needed on the JAL Group.
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank members
This is a reciprocal relationship, so members of Japan Airlines Mileage Bank also get benefits with Marriott, also based on their JAL elite status level:
- Base member – Marriott Silver status challenge (stay 6 nights in the first 6 months every year)
- Crystal – Marriott Silver status challenge (stay 4 nights in the first 6 months every year)
- Sapphire – Complimentary Marriott Silver status + Gold status challenge (stay 10 nights in the first 6 months every year)
- Premier – Complimentary Marriott Gold status + 10K Marriott bonus points when staying 16 nights in the first 6 months every year
- Diamond – Complimentary Marriott Gold status + 15K Marriott bonus points when staying 16 nights in the first 6 months every year + Platinum status challenge (stay 10 nights in the first 6 months of the first year)
- Diamond Metal – Complimentary Marriott Gold status + 15K Marriott bonus points when staying 16 nights in the first 6 months every year + Platinum status challenge (stay 10 nights in the first 6 months every year)
Those could be some useful benefits for JAL elite members, especially if they wouldn’t otherwise have any kind of Marriott elite status. Silver and Gold don’t provide many benefits but they’re better than nothing at all, while the free bonus points after staying enough qualifying nights each year for JAL Premier status holders and above are nice to have, as is the ability to do a Platinum status challenge if you have Diamond or Diamond Metal status. As I’ve bolded above though, Diamond members are only eligible for a Platinum status challenge in the first six months of their first year, while Diamond Metal members can take advantage of the status challenge every year if they want.
It’s good to see Marriott expanding its relationships with other airlines to add to its existing partnerships with United, Singapore Airlines, and more. Those other airline partnerships sometimes have additional limited time promotions, so hopefully we see something similar occur in the future with Japan Airlines.
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Is this a one-time match thing, or as long as the relationship exists, if I am Marriott Titanium, would I get the JAL points annually?
It’s an ongoing thing, so you’ll earn FLY ON Points each year based on the Marriott status you attained the previous year.
what’s the best path to hack one’s way into Titanium status?
Not fully understanding this part about getting to Sapphire :
That means that those with Marriott Platinum status would still be eligible for Japan Airlines Crystal status when crediting other flights to their Mileage Bank account, while Marriott Titanium and Ambassador members can earn up to Sapphire status with Japan Airlines without having to also take flights on JAL Group.
Crystal status requires 30K points, while Sapphire requires 50K points, with those status levels requiring 15K and 25K of those Points respectively to come via flights in the JAL Group or, in this case, via this partnership.
Marriott Platinum members get 20K Points which means they can earn Crystal status by crediting partner flights to JAL, but they wouldn’t be able to earn Sapphire status unless they take flights with JAL Group as they’d still be 5K Points short of the minimum 25K JAL-qualifying Points needed for Sapphire.
Rereading that sentence though, I can see that it would’ve been helpful to have also added ‘without having to also take flights on JAL Group’ in the initial part of the sentence regarding Platinum status, so I’ll get that added in for better clarity.
Quick question please – I have Marriott Titanium status, I understand that I would get the 30K FLY ON points to qualify for Crystal and 25K of those being enough to fulfill the JAL Group Flight requirement for Sapphire.
I am confused at how I could earn the remaining 20K to obtain the Sapphire status without taking flights?
You would have to take flights still – they just wouldn’t have to be on JAL Group airlines. They could be partner airlines like American, Alaska, British Airways, etc.
Thank you so much for the response and the article. I was struggling to understand the program details on the website but you made everything clear!
So deep.
Excellent report.
It might be worth noting that JMB is the annual side of loyalty and JAL Global Club is the lifetime side of loyalty. Never the twain shall meet (other than revenue flights).
So, the Marriott deal is good for annual tier status but not for lifetime tier status. If someone is after One World Emerald, it’s only available under the annual sunset — JAL lifetime statuses only grant One World Sapphire at best
@Lee – thank you, lifetime status was the angle I was looking for info about.
For lifetime OW Sapphire, you need JGC Three Star status, which requires 1500 JGC Lifetime Points. If you achieve JGC Four Star status, which requires 3000 JGC Lifetime Points, (or higher) your JMB award miles NEVER expire.
There are three ways to earn JGC Lifetime Points.
1. Revenue flights on JAL and JAL-booked code share. No partner flights otherwise. 5 LPs for every 1000 sector miles. Sector mile = physical flight distance x cabin class multiplier.
2. FNBO JAL USA credit card. 5 LPs for every 1500 card miles earned. 1X card.
3. JAL Mall online shopping. 1 LP for every 10,000 Yen (about $62) mall spending. (Check shipping costs. Ha.)
Conceivably, a person could MS the credit card in the amount of $450k and achieve Three Star status (OW Sapphire). The question is what your embedded costs are. If your cash cycle costs 1.5%, you’re looking at nearly $7000. That being said, I know individuals who would incur $4000 to $6000 of opportunity cost *annually* for Delta Diamond. It’s a personal decision.
Conceivably, a person could spend about $94k on the JAL Mall. (They DO sell eel.)
I hope this helps.
@Lee – the Shanghai side of the family perked up at the eel idea. I looked into the JAL shareholder idea, working with some Japanese points people based in Japan they said that method only works for a portion and is quite difficult for even them to navigate so they advocated for me to puruse other methods. Not even sure I want this beyond the novelty.
I am glad I did not pursue Asiana lifetime status as I would now be heading for another SkyTeam status.
The Delta thing, I did some hard to rationalize credit card spend to push my MQMs higher, the 5-year Diamond rollover I got is moving fast and I am still 330k flown miles short of lifetime Diamond 3 MM so I may be tempted to do some retro mileage run even though Diamond I find a highly diminished status and would only be doing it for ego rush. Maybe 20219 was the last time I got a Diamond ‘surprise and delight’ moment like an international upgrade.
Also highly personal, BA Gold For Life can be obtained via BA Holidays bookings. Pretty substantial opportunity cost and heap big wampum. But, if a person doesn’t depend on earning every last point, there’s a path to OW Emerald for life.
Then, there’s Flying Blue Platinum for Life. In the past, rightfully so, people poo-poo’ed Sky Team elite status. But, Sky Team elite benefits are evolving for the positive. I’m at Platinum and I make very good use of it.