Booked: Award Flights to Japan for 5 people!

Our family trip to Japan in 2025 is ON! I just booked award flights using miles and points (mostly from credit card signups).

British Airways Avios for Japan Airlines Flights

My goal was to fly on Japan Airlines nonstop from DFW, with me and my husband in premium economy and my kids in economy. It’s a 13-hour flight. Of course, all 5 of us in premium economy would be great. But lately, JAL has only been releasing 2 premium economy award seats per flight. My kids are younger and thinner and can handle regular economy seats better than us old folks.

Japan Airlines has many partner airlines. The best/cheapest partners to book JAL flights are American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. However, AA and Alaska release schedules about a month behind JAL’s other international partners. During that time, many premium seats are snatched up by other miles and points hobbyists. So, if you want a better shot at business class or premium economy seats, you have to fork over more points and cash with a different partner.

Partners Cathay Pacific, Iberia and British Airways show award availability earlier than AA and Alaska. However, you cannot book JAL premium economy seats on Cathay Pacific. And, Iberia partner awards are nonrefundable. So, British Airways was the best choice for my needs.

I accumulated British Airways Avios through a few credit card welcome bonuses. A few months ago, my husband signed up for the Iberia Plus credit card as well as the American Express gold card. I transferred both currencies to British Airways easily online. I also had some Amex points through a business bank account bonus, and we transferred some Capital One miles from our Venture X cards as well.

Pivoting to Plan B

I saw my desired flight and seats show up on Iberia first, but I had to wait a few more days for them to show up on British Airways’ system. And wouldn’t you know it? The evening the flights for my desired date became available on British Airways, somebody else snatched up the two premium economy seats before me. Oh no! And, there weren’t enough economy award seats for my entire family. So, I had to pivot to Plan B.

The day before my desired trip date was still available. I booked my husband and boys in 2 premium economy seats and 1 business class seat on JAL from DFW to HND. Each premium economy seat was 62,000 Avios, and the business class seat was 92.750 Avios. The taxes for each award seat were $264.20.

My daughter is unable to leave the day earlier due to her school schedule. So, in order to get us in premium economy seats to Japan on our desired date, I had to book us on flights departing from Chicago, LAX, San Francisco or Seattle. I decided to book us out of LAX since the flight required fewer miles than Chicago. I’ll book a positioning flight from DFW to LAX later. Each premium economy seat was 51,500 Avios plus $264.20 in taxes.

Total one-way cost for 5 people with 4 premium economy seats and 1 business class seat:

319,750 Avios plus $1321 in taxes

Current cash price for those seats is $14,252! Of course, I would never pay over $14k for one-way flights to Japan. Regular economy seats are much cheaper. But by using miles and points, it’s possible to pay much less for premium seats.

Plan For Flights Home

I plan to use AA and Alaska miles for the flights home. We’re ok flying in regular economy since the flights are a bit shorter and we can catch up on sleep after we get home. Economy flights on JAL using AA miles are 35k miles plus $43 in taxes. I have to wait another 5 weeks for those flights to become available to book on AA or Alaska.

We’re going to Japan!!