Japan Airlines Changed A Flight By 5 Minutes—Switch Dates And Get A350 Suites At No Extra Cost

A Japan Airlines pasenger says a five-minute schedule change let them move two business class awards to another day, switch from Narita to Haneda, and book Airbus A350 suites. They’d booked the award using Finnair Avios, and the changes cost nothing extra. The traveler describes doing this through JAL’s website, then calling Finnair to finish the ticketing. JAL changed the reservation Finnair reissued the tickets. Booked NRT-LAX JAL J x2 via Finnair using Avios last November. I received an email in August from JAL that there has been a schedule change (5 min change from original flight lol) so I went to manage my booking through JAL. Was able to change the entire flight to a different day and managed to snag the new A350 suites. The new flight is now HND-LAX. I got a confirmation from JAL that the booking was confirmed but also got a message to essentially contact Finnair to finalize the changes. On the Finnair website, the change was reflected but there was a message that said that the tickets will be reissued within 24 hours. I got a little nervous and called Finnair to confirm. I explained the situation and the tickets were reissued without any additional fees or charges. Both bookings were in business class. The gains were the travel date, departure airport and aircraft. I flagged the A350’s arrival in Los Angeles when JAL announced it. Its 54 business class suites have doors, beds up to 78 inches long and 24-inch entertainment screens. The traveler also reports alternatives roughly seven days either side of the original flight, including Osaka connections, with availability better than what they could have gotten through partner award availability. The Operating Airline Can Offer Choices The Issuer Doesn’t Show When I redeem miles with United, and a partner airline award suffers a schedule change that makes a trip impossible, I’ve been able to get United to open up space on its own flights to accommodate a trip. And when a schedule change on an American Airlines award is undesirable, I’ve gotten American to exchange it for other flights they operate that I prefer without any extra cost. However, when it’s difficult to get any flexibility rebooking onto a different partner flight. An airline can open up space on its own flights. They have to ask a partner to do it for their flights, and the answer is usually no. With Japan Airlines, you can view and change some bookings issued by another airline or a travel agency on its website. Some reservations won’t support online changes, and refunds still go through the original seller. Another Finnair member moved a Boston – Tokyo Narita flight by a day after a 15-minute adjustment, with automatic reticketing within five minutes. An Alaska customer with a three-hour change instead got restricted online functionality. No guarantees that the options will be offered, or that reticketing will go smoothly, with all partner airlines! But there’s a separate ticketing step. JAL’s instructions warn that tickets bought elsewhere may need reprocessing by the original issuer after an online reservation change. You may see the new flights but your ticket won’t match the new itinerary on its own. Here’s How To Do This JAL publishes the following website flow for affected bookings. Open the affected reservation in JAL’s Manage Booking. Enter the booking number, departure date and passenger name, or retrieve it through your JAL Mileage Bank login. Choose “Search for another flight.” JAL’s change screen shows the affected flight and any proposed replacement. Use the search option to look for something else, rather than simply confirming the proposed flight. Select the offered alternative and finish the change. Click “Next,” review the details, then “Complete change procedures.” Check the date and airport carefully when selecting between Narita and Haneda. Follow any instruction to contact the issuing airline. For the Finnair example, ring them and ask JAL has changed my reservation following its schedule change. Please reissue my award ticket for the new flights.” You’re asking them to finish the change already made, not to find a new award from scratch. Have the issuer confirm that reissue is complete and provide the updated ticket confirmation. Match its travel date, airports, flights and cabin to the new reservation, then check your seat assignments in JAL’s Booking details. Topics on this page