The Ultimate Oneworld Business Class Mileage Award (Part Two)

April 2017
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Fly around the world with up to seven stops for less than most airlines charge for a single intercontinental round-trip.

Last month FCF uncovered The Ultimate Mileage Award using Star Alliance carrier All Nippon.

This month FCF reveals the second best Round-the-World (RTW) mileage award, your designated hitter when the All Nippon award is not available. It's offered by oneworld carrier Japan Airlines (JAL), a Starwood Starpoints transfer partner.

Seven stops around the world for 20,000 to 40,000 fewer miles than American, Delta, and United charge for many intercontinental round-trips

With Japan Airlines miles, RTW mileage trips up to 20,000 flight miles cost 120,000 JAL miles in Business Class. That is an amazing deal given that Delta charges 140,000 miles for a Business Class round-trip between the U.S. and Europe and 160,000 miles for one to Asia.

By the way, JAL charges 170,000 miles for First Class, so for only 10,000 more miles than Delta charges for Business Class to Asia, you can fly First Class around the world with seven stops!

See JAL award chart below...

In addition to getting up to seven stops, this award even saves miles on a standard long-haul, round-trip flight.

  • American travelers: Save up to 20,000 miles
  • Delta travelers: Save 20,000 to 40,000 miles
  • United travelers: Save up to 20,000 miles
The hang-up that some people have about Round-the-World deals is that they sound so long. Yet the distance covered is often little more than many long-haul, point-to-point round-trips.

You don’t have to see the whole world.

Here is a sample itinerary of less than 20,000 flight miles: New York-Tokyo-Hong Kong-Delhi-London-Barcelona-New York.

What Else to Know

  • Use BritishAirways.com or AA.com (or even Alaska.com as it partners with some oneworld airlines) to get a sense of availability for partner award flights, because these airlines’ websites are easier to use than JAL’s.
  • Transfers from Starwood to JAL take up to seven days, so there’s a chance your seat could disappear.
Here’s how I think about this:
  1. I look for routes and dates with "clusters of availability," meaning if I miss one day, there’s a good chance the seat is available on the day before or after.
  2. With JAL, the downside is minimal, even if the seat falls through, as JAL miles are very often worth much more than miles on most other carriers. For instance, they can be used for everyday round-trips at much better rates than AAdvantage miles. Or, bank the miles and you’ll be ready to strike instantly the next time you're ready to book the RTW steal.
  • Flights must be booked by phone (800) 525-3663.

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