Booking Japan Airlines' Sydney-Tokyo first class with Qantas Points

Japan Airlines is reintroducing its signature JAL Suites first class on flights between Sydney and Tokyo Haneda from September 1 2020, meaning the time is ripe to book your next luxe trip to Tokyo using Qantas frequent flyer points.

Bookings are now live on the Qantas website: here's how many Qantas Points you'll need, and how to reserve your seat.

Booking Japan Airlines first class: key routes

Of course, the most relevant route for Australian readers is Sydney to Tokyo (Haneda), but Japan Airlines has many other flights sporting JAL Suites. Connecting through Haneda Airport, that roster includes London, Paris, San Francisco and New York.

JAL first class is also found on flights from Tokyo Narita to New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, although these require an inconvenient intra-city airport transfer if connecting to or from JAL's Sydney flights at Tokyo Haneda.

Routes in red are through Tokyo Haneda, while routes in yellow are through Tokyo Narita.

Booking Japan Airlines first class: how many Qantas Points you'll need

Here's how many Qantas Points you'll need per person, one-way, to fly on Japan Airlines. JAL business class is also included for comparison.

If you’re merely transiting through Tokyo within 24 hours and connecting onwards to Europe or the USA, then a single flat fare applies for all of JAL's destinations in those countries.

Given the duration of these ultra-long journeys, the points premium required over business class isn't a dramatic increase on what would be 24 hours or more spent at the pointiest of pointy ends.

Booking Japan Airlines first class with Qantas Points

1. Single-city bookings

Ready to snag that JAL Suite? Login to your frequent flyer account on the Qantas website and set up a search, ensuring you tick 'Use points'. Clicking into the departure box and toggling 'Flexible with dates' will also help reveal all your options.

A quick look at the calendar shows plenty of JAL first class reward seats available on the Sydney-Tokyo route at the time of writing. Choose a date to continue with the search process.

The ribbons represent days which have at least one first class seat.

On the results screen, the direct JAL flights will normally appear underneath any available Qantas flights, even if those have longer connections.

If reward seats are available, click on the ribbon icon to see how many Qantas Points it will require, as well as the taxes and surcharges payable on the next screen.

2. Multi-city bookings

If you're planning to fly JAL all the way from Sydney to one of its destinations in Europe or the USA, then you might need the help of Qantas' multi-city booking tool. That's because Japan Airlines' routings might not show up on these searches, even if there are reward seats available.

For example, take this simple search of Sydney to London on 23 November 2020. None of the results show any business or first class seats bookable with Qantas Points, even though Japan Airlines has first class seats available on both its Sydney-Tokyo and Tokyo-London flights on the next two days.

Go back to the search screen and choose 'Multi-city', then enter the individual JAL flight segments (Sydney to Tokyo Haneda, then Tokyo onwards to London).

Some research is required to get the right schedule: in this case, the Tokyo-London leg with first class is scheduled the next day after departing Sydney, hence the different dates.

Now go through and choose the first class seats on each individual flight. If multiple flights are available, this also makes it easy to plan and book the connection that suits you best.

This connection flies you in JAL first class all the way, with a restful night's break in between.

Finally, proceed to the end, and the summary shows how many Qantas Points are needed, plus the taxes and charges.

A JAL first class booking from Sydney to London falls under the maximum cap of 227,500 Qantas Points. Fees are low, too.

Booking Japan Airlines flights can be a bit more hassle than those of Qantas and its closest partners, but with a bit more effort, you can certainly use your Qantas Points on JAL's first and business class flights in ways that less-savvy travellers might not even know about. 

As a bonus, the cash co-payment with JAL flights is usually significantly lower than the equivalent Qantas flights too, which makes it a very appealing option for hard-working travellers looking for a great value – yet still-luxurious – escape with their Qantas Points.

Also read: JAL brings back first class on Sydney-Tokyo flights

Brandon Loo

Based in Perth, Brandon enjoys tucking into local delicacies, discovering new cocktails, and making aeroplane food look good on camera.