Sucking it up right now - Flying to Japan in Premium Economy (on JAL, so that’s a nice seat at least) next month and returning from HKG on Cathay in regular old economy. Will keep checking for J awards up until the last minute, but I have a near zero expectation of anything becoming available. I’ll survive.
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I’m in the same boat. Just booked Taiwan/Japan for Feb in premium economy, and it’s the first time in a decade I haven’t been able to find an upgrade to business on miles to Asia/Europe, including multiple trips this year. At least my outbound is direct.
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Have international J (AA) and F (EK) next month.
Have international J in March, 2 seats (AF and VS)
Booked into those cabins, not an upgrade
Air France has deliberately become more available - at least out at the booking horizon.
The best tool I know for award availability (and setting alerts) is Seats.aero. If you are monitoring for something to open up, it’s very helpful. Also shows alternative booking options - I’ve booked AA LAX-JFK J using AS miles for 25k when AA wanted 100k for the same flight.
Business or pleasure?
visiting daughter, both trips, who is in grad school in Glasgow
solo next month. with younger daughter in March (spring break)
373K miles spent total for the 2 trips
I just booked my outbound to Japan next October. JAL, nonstop from LAX one J and one F (couldn’t get two in the same cabin). Had to use BA, which is more expensive (180k for the pair vs 140 if I could get them via AA partner award).
BA books out 355 days so they (along with Cathay Asia Miles) have access before AA, AS , etc.
Will keep monitoring through the year in case I can get a cheaper partner award on a better date.
I also have two RT Air France J tickets to Europe for 200K total. I’m lucky that I can book a year out. AF is the only airline that made (some of) their flights cheaper. And they are the best J flights if the European airlines (on their updated planes(.
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Well done. Is there a particular time of day that the BA awards drop?
I think the relevant drop is JALs, as well as when the BA calendar advances… Someone in flyertalk said midnight pacific, but I’m not sure. I’ve been checking a bit before , like 11:30. I’m going to find out a bit more exactly.
Currently the Bof A site is somewhat broken for awards, giving you a message that they can’t book more than 355 days out. No matter what the date.
But if you keep trying other dates, eventually it works. No rhyme or reason in the date or the number of tries. It has taken 2-6 tries. I don’t mind because it means less competition for the spots.
Yeah, had that issue. They are aware of it but it’s been going on for at least a week. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t
Too bad there isn’t a sevice where someone who knows all the tricks will put in the patience to keep trying for you. I’d pay very well for that! Maybe I should put an ad on Commerce Corner, lol 
I’m familiar with at least one. Same one @ericskitei knows
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I don’t think any service puts in the time I need to get reasonable price. Checking multiple times a day, roughly 30-45 minutes a day for two weeks. They’ll find you availability on AA for ridiculous prices. But if Jordan says otherwise, I’m interested.
Sarah, check out seats.aero if you aren’t booking a year out. Not perfect but better than most. You can set an alert (but those to Japan may be as competitive as Resy alerts to Don Angie in NY).
If you have tons if Amex points, CX has access 360 days out , and Amex MR points can transfer over. About 30% more points than BA. I’m hesitant because I don’t want a ton of CX miles as I’m not going to Southeast Asia or china anymore.
I’ve seen the availability and then people pounce on it when it’s 355 days out. Still trying to figure out when the magic moment is, I saw some things pop up at 10:45 pm Pacific time.
Thanks Barry. Yes, I know all those angles and avenues. I don’t have the bandwidth to do the checking, so I accept I may not be able to get it done. Was a wistful moment of wishing there were a magic solution.
Just looked at it for the first time. Wish the info was live
If you refresh it, it updates with live results (or at least the paid subscription does).
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And now, search results default to 1 day prior to what you request
In the end we booked Japan Airlines business class to Shanghai, connecting at Haneda-Tokyo. The long-haul flight JFK-HND is really super. The plane is an Airbus 350-1000 and is very quiet, and the both the “hard product” and “soft product” are excellent. I ordered the Washoku menu and it was quite good. Our departure time was at 00:30 (i.e., 30 minutes past midnight), which was a great time to leave - I slept 8 hours on the way over, and got over my jet lag in just one day. The return got me into JFK at 18:30 - again, great timing.
The connecting flight from HND to Shanghai-Hongqiao (SHA) was not special, but it’s just a regional 3h30m flight. The seat was fine but the food was pretty lousy.
Shanghai itself was revelatory and really quite amazing, but that’s for another thread.
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