This is the first of a series of articles on some of the more obscure airlines that are transfer partners with Starwood. Special thanks to S.B.S. for his exhaustive research on this topic!
Starwood Starpoints transfer to JAL Mileage Bank at a 1:1 or 20,000:25,000 ratio.
The JAL program is one of the most complicated mileage programs that I have ever seen.
You can get dizzy just trying to figure out what they’re talking about.
The complicating factor is that they have 2 kinds of awards.
1. Distance based: This is where the required miles is based on the actual distance of the flight.
2. Zone based: This is where the required miles is based on the countries of origin and destination.
To make things worse, in each type of awards there are some partners that are zone-based, and some that are distance based.
Here’s my own shot at simplification of the JAL program:
There are 5 distinct types of mileage awards.
1. Domestic JAL Group (Includes 6 Japanese Airlines) Tickets.
2. International JAL Group (Includes 3 Japanese Airlines) Tickets.
3. JAL+Partner Tickets: Valid for Travel on JAL and AA for a zone based award. Valid for travel on JAL and Finnair, Iberia, Malev Hungarian Airlines, Qantas Airways and Royal Jordanian Airlines for a distance based award.
4. Partner Airlines Tickets: The required mileage differs for each of the following airlines! Valid for travel on any one (and only one) of the following airlines: AA, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair, Finnair, Iberia, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas Airways, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Air France, Emirates.
5. One-World Tickets: Valid for travel on at least two different (excluding JAL) OneWorld carriers.
I don’t have the time to sift through every nook and cranny of the program to find gems, but this little nugget stands out:
The Partner Airlines (category 4) award for British Airways is zone-based. It considers Israel to be part of Europe!
The JAL miles cost of a British Airways ticket from anywhere in North or Central America to Israel is as follows:
Coach between 10/15 and 05/15 (a.k.a. World Traveler Class): 40,000
Coach between 5/16 and 10/14 (a.k.a. World Traveler Class): 60,000
Premium Coach (a.k.a. World Traveler Plus Class): 75,000
Business (a.k.a. Club World Class): 80,000
First: 100,000
Bear in mind that for every 20,000 Starpoints you will get 25,000 JAL miles, so the actual cost for an off-peak coach award to Israel is less than 35,000 Starpoints!
Feel free to comb through the rest of JAL program and let me know about any more gems that you may find!
Izzy, if you take out the optional insurance from AMEX ($9.00 per ticket) then if your luggage is not delivered to you hotel/apartment within THREE hours, they give you $500 per misplaced piece. See more: https://www152.americanexpress.com/fsea/travel/baggage/product.do
IZZY:
if you’re flying ANY airline keep your tefillin in your hand luggage, I’ve personally been on a flight with Lufthansa from E”Y to N.Y. with a stop in Frankfurt, ans i was with a group almost the whole group had a piece of luggage (including me)left in Frankfurt. I know somebody who flying here for tishrei on Northwest had his luggage lost and he didn’t get back till after Rosh Hashanah.
anyone flying any of the european airlines should be aware of a problem with their luggage ending up at the stop over location and not continuing on to Israel. This is especially a problem with the Russian airlines and Check etc.
People are flying with these airlines ans saving lots of $$ but they end up with no clothing for several days untill it is finally recieved. I know of people that had to wait a week till they finally got it.
If you are flying with these airlines make sure you have your tfillin in your hand luggage
as anyone booked a flight to israel already for 40000 starpoints and is going i just want to know if it worked 4 someone already
I dont know if the flight is any good, but you can also fly malev airlines through this JAL thing from NY to Israel via Budapest for 40,000 miles.
I posted above that the tranfer rate is 1.25 points to miles over 20k points. I was mistaken.
OVER 20K POINTS CONVERTED INTO MILES GIVES YOU AN EXTRA 5,000 MILES.
For example:
20k points will give you 25k miles.
32k points will give you 37k miles (not 40k miles)
Sorry if I confused anyne, but I was confused.
There IS a way to fly direct to Israel with 40.000 miles. It wasn’t mentioned yet. Wait and see!!!
There is no direct flight available for 40,000 points.
You can fly British Air (I think) via The UK for 40,000 JAL miles. (If I have this figured out correctly) all you have to do is transfer 32,000 Starpoints to 40,000 JAL miles (at 1.25 tranfer rate over 20k points) and then book the flight on British Air using those miles.
the bottom line:HOW DO YOU GET A DIRECT FLIGHT FOR 40,000 STARPOINTS???????????
Someone said “I know that Israel is considered part of Europe overthere. Here’s the thing – 35,000 miles will only give you a free flight WITHIN Europe. Not from USA to Europe. Was that clearer?”
That is correct, but if you scroll DOWN to “AWARDS BETWEEN EUROPE AND OTHER ZONES” and look at North America, you will see that travel from North America (US) to Europe Zone-3 (Israel) is available for 40,000 miles off-peak.
Is that clearer?
starpoints=starwood points
Regarding point A – isn’t Starpoints Mileage for the Star alliance? If that’s correct, then – Alitalia is not part of the Star alliance – thus the term “Starpoints” would be incorrect. If I misunderstood the meaning of “Starpoints” please correct me and define it.
Thanx
Otherguy:
I know that Israel is considered part of Europe overthere. Here’s the thing – 35,000 miles will only give you a free flight WITHIN Europe. Not from USA to Europe. Was that clearer?
Of course you can:
https://www121.jal.co.jp/JmbWeb/AR/EnrollProposal_en.do
you cant become a frequent flier JAL member unless you live in Japan!!
Avi
Starpoints can be transfered to many airlines. (http://www.starwoodhotels.com/preferredguest/account/starpoints/redeem/index.html?type=upgrade)
Anybody notice that there is only one airline listed as “no transfer option”?!? ElAl! Why are they on the list?!?!?!?
OTHER GUY:
how do starpoints turn into points for jal or any other airline?
IZZY:
If i’m not mistaken sigapore airlines is part of the star alliance, and you canearn theire points anytime you fly a star alliance airline.
you can transfer AMEX MR points or Starwood points into their program.
Mendel
can u please clarify what the deal is? On which airlines do I need the miles to get a ticket for 60,000? I have miles on American and on Continental. I also have amex about 35000 points
Any info is appreciated
I looked at the link but I cant understand which airline I need the miles on. If you need it on Singapore then its not such a great deal. who has singapore miles here in the us?
keep in mind though that although they will probbly not go out of business, they may move Israel from the “Europe” catagory to the “Middle East” or “Asia”
I won the bestbuy.com certificate, too.
You are right…it is confusing. But theres anumber to call if u have any questions.For additional support, please email questions to Customer Service at
mywishlist.amexnetwork.com/customerservice.html or call 800.824.3327.
I think I just found a prety good deal https://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/docs/krisflyer/Redeem_Miles/Awards_Charts/StarAlliance_Roundtrip_14Nov.pdf
only 25k for USA and 60k for Israel
(plus they allow free stopovers)
here is the good part besides the SPG bonus, this is also a great deal if you have AMEX MR, as you avoid the “excise taxes” since this is not a US airline
plus they list on their website that you save 15% of your miles when you book an award online.
“Awards issued for children and infants require the same mileage as for adults.”
Sounds a little annoying, 35000 starpoints for an infant, can you rather pay 10% of the fare like most airlines?
Did anyone else get the wishlist $150 gift card from Best Buy ?
If you did do you know how to redeem it ? Is there an address to send in receipts to or is it automatically linked to your amex card ?
it’s a bit confusing
any help would be appreciated
Being that Asiamiles is partnered with JAL is there anyway to use my asiamiles to redeem JAL filghts??
Also I’m flying to Europe on United, is there any recommendation to use a different mileage program aside from United’s?? Or is united okay? Thanks
someone
A – There is no need to mention Starpoints, you wont find Starpoints in any points system. The Starpoints turn into points for JAL or any other airline.
B – If you read the whole post you will see that they consider Israel as part of Europe
me
Obviously nobody can absolutely predict what will happen in the future but JAL is a big airline with no reason (at the moment) to close down. I think you are probably referring to the Amtrack/Choice story and if so you misunderstood it because nobody closed down.
here is the big question,,,,,,,,,
are they also going to run out of business???
also you mentioned something about flying direct for 40k… any info on that?
thanks!
Dan,
A – There is no mention of starpoints in the program.
B – You can not fly from NY to Israel for 35000, that is just for within Europe.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Question?
Now that AA and El Al are merging/code sharing….and JAL is part of one world with AA, how does this effect a flight to Israel non-stop? How doable and how much mileage?
also, how do we go about arranging the JAL BA ticket? who does it JAL or BA (after transferring starwood points to JAL mileage)?
thanks
flying on quantas to australia from the us and canada is just 75,000!!
dan what would be the best way to transfer? if you do 40000 starpoints giving you 50000 jal that leaves you with extra points if on the other hand you do one 20000 and then 15000 that seems like a waste of your potential bonus
Also dan do you have any idea why ill be able to do with 75000
amtrak points