Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank Program Guide: Everything You Need to Know

When people think of Japanese airlines, the first one that comes to mind is probably All Nippon Airways (ANA), the East Asian nation’s largest carrier. However, Japan Airlines (JAL) is another major player in the airline industry that’s headquartered in Japan with a large route network and a lucrative frequent flyer program. JAL Mileage Bank (JMB), the rewards program of Japan Airlines, has some excellent sweet spots that are worth taking advantage of. Unfortunately, JMB miles are a fairly difficult reward currency to earn without flying for U.S.-based travelers.

Japan Airlines is a member of Oneworld Alliance, which means that you can earn and redeem JMB miles with any other member of Oneworld Alliance, including prominent airlines such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and British Airways. You can also rack up JMB miles by flying with several other non-Oneworld Alliance partners, booking hotels, renting cars and more.

Unfortunately, JAL Mileage Bank is not a transfer partner of any of the major transferable credit card rewards programs (such as American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards). This makes it a whole lot more difficult to quickly boost your JMB miles balance.

Choosing to earn JMB miles on your Oneworld Alliance flights is a better plan, in particular, because you can get some amazing value out of your points by utilizing Japan Airlines’ policies on stopovers.

If you fly to and from Japan often or you want to save up for a trip to Japan, the JAL Mileage Bank program is worth paying attention to. In this article, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about the JAL Mileage Bank program, including elite status, how to earn JMB miles, how to redeem JMB miles and which redemption methods offer the most value per mile.

Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank Program Overview

Japan Airlines was established in 1951 by the Japanese government in the aftermath of World War II. In the same year, the airline began operating domestic flights using a Martin 2-0-2 aircraft. In 1954, the airline’s route network extended outside of Japan, and Japan Airlines operated its first international flight from Tokyo to San Francisco via Wake Island and Honolulu on a Douglas DC-6B.

Since then, Japan Airlines has massively expanded its route network both domestically and internationally. The airline now has a fleet of over 220 aircraft and operates routes to the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Oceania.

In 2007, Japan Airlines became a member of the Oneworld Alliance, greatly increasing the number of destinations that JAL customers could reach through their booking engine. Additionally, JAL Mileage Bank members have the option to both earn and redeem JMB miles with any member airline of Oneworld Alliance. Here are all of the current members of Oneworld Alliance:

In addition to the Oneworld Alliance partners listed above, Japan Airlines also has several other airline partners with which you can earn and redeem JMB miles. These partners include:

In addition to earning JMB miles for flying with these Oneworld and non-Oneworld airline partners, you can earn Fly On points for certain partner flights, which count towards earning Fly On elite status.

Japan Airlines Elite Status

Japan Airlines has three elite status programs: Fly On, Life Status and Global Club. As soon as you sign up for the JAL Mileage Bank program, you can start earning Fly On points that count towards earning Fly On elite status and are only valid for a calendar year between January and December, after which your Fly On Points will expire. You can also start earning Lifetime Status Points, which are valid for your entire lifetime. Global Club, on the other hand, is an exclusive, invitation-only elite status program that you may have to pay an annual membership fee (in JMB miles) to be a part of.

Fly On

As soon as you join the JAL Mileage Bank program, you’ll automatically be able to earn Fly On points, which contribute toward earning Fly On elite status. Fly On points can be earned on Japan Airlines flights as well as flights with Oneworld Alliance partner airlines. The number of Fly On points that you’ll earn for qualifying flights is calculated using the following formula:

Fly On points = (flight mileage x Fly On point conversion rate) + flight bonus Fly On points

To make matters more complicated, the flight mileage used in this formula is calculated as the actual flight mileage multiplied by the accumulation rate for the class and fare of the purchased ticket. So, the formula for Fly On points could also be written this way:

Fly On points = ((actual flight mileage x fare class accumulation rate) x Fly On point conversion rate) + flight bonus Fly On points

The following table includes the accumulation rate for fare classes on Japan Airlines:

*Members earn an additional 10% of the applicable sector miles flown when flying domestic in Class J
**Members earn an additional 50% of the applicable sector miles flown when flying domestic in First Class

The Fly On point conversion rate is based on whether you’re flying domestic or international and whether you’re flying on Japan Airlines or another airline. Here are the Fly On point conversion rates:

• Domestic flights within Japan—2X Fly On points
• Japan Airlines flights connecting Japan with Asia, Oceania or Vladivostok—1.5X Fly On points
• All other international flights—1X Fly On points

Finally, the flight bonus Fly On points are awarded for flying with Japan Airlines. These bonuses are either 400 points or 200 points and depend on your fare class as well as whether you’re flying domestic or international. Here is a breakdown of the different flight bonuses:

Any flights that don’t fit one of the categories above will not be eligible to earn flight bonus Fly On points.

So, let’s put this all together. For example, let’s say you take a Japan Airlines-operated international flight from Tokyo to Sydney (which has a distance of 4,863 miles, according to the Japan Airlines sector mileage table) with fare code C. In this case, the Fly On points calculation would look like this:

Fly On points = ((4,863 miles flown x 125% accumulation rate) x 1.5X Fly On point conversion rate) + 400 flight bonus Fly On points

Thus, the amount of Fly On points you’d earn for that flight would be 9,518 points.

To make matters slightly easier, Japan Airlines has a Fly On points calculator tool on its website that can help you make these calculations.

The following table includes the three membership tiers available to Fly On program members as well as the requirements for achieving those tiers:

Finally, let’s take a look at the benefits that you’ll be entitled to at each of these status tiers

Of the benefits listed above, one of the most impressive is the bonus miles that you’ll earn for flying with Japan Airlines as well as several other airline partners. These bonuses are significantly higher than the elite status mileage bonuses offered by most other frequent flyer programs.

Global Club

JAL Global Club is, essentially, a complementary elite status program to the Fly On program. However, Global Club is an invite-only program that’s only available to members who meet certain requirements. In order to be approved for JAL Global Club, you typically need to have acquired at least 1,500 Life Status Points (under the new Life Status program active March 31, 2024) to be considered. Regardless of if you reach that number though, whether or not you’re invited to join JAL Global Club is completely at the airline’s discretion.

Once you become a member of Global Club, you’ll need to pay an initial registration fee of 5,000 JMB miles. However, if you’re a JALCARD CLUB-A Card, CLUB-A Gold Card, JAL Diners Card or JAL Platinum Card member, this fee will be waived. Then, after the first year of membership, you’ll be required to pay an annual membership renewal fee of 2,000 JMB miles every year. This 2,000-mile membership renewal fee is not waived for the previously listed cardholders.

As a Global Club member, you’ll start out at Global Club Oneworld Sapphire status and automatically be entitled to certain benefits. Then, you can advance through the status tiers almost exactly like you would in the Fly On program. However, there is one additional status: Global Club Premier. The table below includes all of the different statuses within the Global Club program and their respective benefits:

So, to try and clarify this incredibly complicated system, Global Club Oneworld Sapphire status and Global Club Premier status are completely unique to the Global Club program. Sapphire and Diamond status are exactly the same whether you’re a Fly On member or a Global Club member (including requirements and benefits). Global Club Crystal members have access to all of the benefits included with Fly On Crystal status as well as all of the benefits included with Global Club Oneworld Sapphire status.

Despite being incredibly confusing, joining Global Club is actually a very good idea if you get invited. The annual membership fee is just 2,000 miles and you’ll automatically receive Global Club Oneworld Sapphire status, which includes some great benefits that will instantly make up for that fee.

Life Status

Now, as if this elite status situation weren’t complicated enough, Japan Airlines has another elite status program that rewards members with status based on the number of Life Status points they accumulate over their lifetimes. Life Status points can be earned by flying with Japan Airlines, by spending on JALCARD credit cards, by using JAL Pay and by making eligible JAL Mall purchases.

Unfortunately, only Japan Airlines co-branded cardholders (JALCARD credit cards) are eligible to earn Life Status.

The following table explains the number of Life Status points you’ll earn for different qualifying activities:

To clarify, for example, for every 1,000 sector miles flown on Japan Airlines internationally, you’ll earn 5 Life Status points. For every 2,000 JMB miles you earn from spending on a JALCARD credit card, you’ll also earn 5 Life Status points.

There are six JAL Life Status tiers. The following table includes all six Life Status tiers, their requirements and their benefits:

Life Status points never expire and can be accumulated over the course of your entire lifetime. Likewise, once you achieve a Life Status tier, you’ll be entitled to the benefits associated with that tier for the rest of your life.

It’s worth noting that any Life Status benefits that you receive are in addition to benefits received from the Fly On or Global Club programs.

How to Earn JAL Mileage Bank Miles

The Japan Airlines Mileage Bank program offers many different ways to earn JMB miles. The most obvious and effective way is to take flights with Japan Airlines or one of its airline partners. However, you can also earn miles for using baggage services, renting a car, staying at hotels, shopping online or in-store, spending on Japan Airlines co-branded credit cards and more.

Notably, unlike many other frequent flyer currencies, JMB miles cannot be purchased with money.

In the following sections, we’ll look at all the different ways to rack up JMB miles and how many miles you could earn with each method.

Flying with Japan Airlines

The most straightforward way to earn JMB miles is to take flights with Japan Airlines (or any JAL Group airline, including J-Air, Japan Air Commuter, Japan Transocean Air and Ryukyu Air Commuter). The number of miles you’ll earn on these flights (both domestic and international) is based on the actual sector mileage of your flight as well as the fare class you’re booked in.

The following table includes the earnings rates for each eligible fare class on any JAL Group airline:

So, for instance, if you were to take a Japan Airlines-operated international flight from Tokyo to Jakarta (which has a distance of 3,612 miles, according to the JAL Group International Sector Mileage Table) in Business Class (fare code D), you would earn 4,515 JMB miles (3,612 sector miles flown x 125% = 4,515 JMB miles).

The miles calculated above would be your base miles earnings. This number would then be used to calculate any elite status bonuses that you may be entitled to. For instance, if you had Fly On Crystal status (which earns 55% bonus miles on Japan Airlines flights), you would earn 2,483 bonus miles and 6,998 total miles for that flight.

Flying with Partner Airlines

You can also earn JMB miles by crediting flights with all Oneworld Alliance and non-Oneworld partner airlines to your Mileage Bank account. Each airline partner has its own earnings chart that works essentially the same way as the Japan Airline earnings chart. You can view all of these earnings charts on the Partner Airlines page on the Japan Airlines website by clicking on your desired partner.

For instance, here is the earnings chart for Iberia:

So, for example, if you were to take a 2,000-mile flight on Iberia in Economy Class (fare code K), you would earn 1,400 JMB miles (2,000 sector miles flown x 70% = 1,400 JMB miles).

Once again, these miles would be the base mileage for calculating any elite status bonuses you may be entitled to. For instance, if you were a Fly On Sapphire member (which earns 50% bonus miles on Iberia), you would earn 700 bonus miles and 2,100 total miles on this flight.

In order to receive JMB miles for eligible partner flights, you need to select JAL Mileage Bank as your frequent flyer program of choice and enter your Mileage Bank membership number when making your booking.

Travel Extras

You can earn JMB miles for purchasing certain travel extras, such as coat storage, airport baggage delivery, parking and more. Here is a summary of some of the travel extras for which you can earn JMB miles:

• Earn 20 miles per ride when you use eligible Tokyo Monorail routes. (Only rides between Monorail Hamamatsucho Station and Haneda Airport International Terminal Station, Haneda Airport Terminal 1 Station and Haneda Airport Terminal 2 Station are eligible to earn miles.)
• Earn between 1X and 3X miles per 100 Japanese yen spent on select parking lots at several airports throughout Japan.
• Earn miles when using Japan Airlines airport luggage delivery service to or from Narita International, Haneda Airport, Kansai International Airport or Chubu International Airport.
• Earn miles when using Japa Airlines coat storage service.

When using Japan Airlines airport luggage delivery service or coat storage service, it’s unclear from the Japan Airlines website how many miles you can earn or how mileage earnings are calculated. However, if you plan on using one of these services, you may as well earn some miles while you’re at it.

Spending on Japan Airlines Co-Branded Credit Cards

Another way to earn JMB miles (as well as Fly On points and Life Status points) is to sign up for a Japan Airlines co-branded credit card. Unfortunately, none of these credit cards are available in the United States. However, if you happen to live in Japan, signing up for one of these cards is a great way to seriously boost your mileage earnings.

Transfer Partners

One major drawback of the JAL Mileage Bank program is that it doesn’t partner with any of the major transferable credit card rewards programs (such as American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards), which makes earning JMB miles a whole lot more difficult.

However, you do have the option of transferring points from both Marriott Bonvoy (at a 3:1 transfer ratio) and World of Hyatt (at a 5:2 transfer ratio). Unfortunately, neither of these transfer ratios are very favorable. If you have Marriott Bonvoy points or World of Hyatt points, you’re much better off spending them in the native program than transferring them to airline partners.

Hotel Stays

In addition to transferring hotel points from Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt, you can elect to earn JMB miles directly for stays with both of these programs as well as several other hotel partners. Typically, in order to earn JMB miles for qualifying hotel stays, you’ll need to select JAL Mileage Bank as your rewards program and add your membership number when making your booking.

The following list includes all of the hotel partners with which you can earn JMB miles and how many miles you could earn with each:

Some of these hotel partners have their own rewards programs, including IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, Melia Rewards and World of Hyatt. In these cases, you might be better off earning that hotel’s rewards currency instead of JMB miles. However, if you aren’t interested in earning hotel points, then electing to earn JMB miles is a good idea.

Most of the other hotel partners, however, don’t have their own rewards programs. In these cases, there’s really no downside to earning JMB miles (or another airline rewards currency if that hotel has other airline partners).

Car Rentals

JAL Mileage Bank also allows members to earn miles for booking eligible car rentals with partners. In order to earn JMB miles for car rentals, you need to select JAL Mileage Bank as your rewards program of choice and add your membership number when making your reservation.

The following table includes all of the car rental partners with which you can earn JMB miles:

Most of these car rental partners also have partnerships with many other frequent flyer programs,including Avis, Budget, Dollar and Hertz. So, before you elect to earn JMB miles for your next car rental, you may want to consider whether you’d rather earn a different airline rewards currency first.

Shopping Online or In-Store

The JAL Mileage Bank program allows you to earn miles by shopping online or in-store through several channels. The easiest way to earn JMB miles for shopping online is to visit the JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace. Through this portal, you can easily view all of the Japan Airlines different shopping partners and their respective JMB miles earnings rates.

To earn miles through this portal, you can simply click on the vendor that you wish to shop with. Then, click the “Start shopping” button on the right-hand side of the merchant’s page.

You’ll be redirected to that merchant’s website. From there, you can shop and checkout as you normally would. Any miles that you’ve earned from your purchase will be credited to your account between 45 and 90 days after the purchase date.

You can also earn JMB miles for shopping in-store at a wide variety of businesses around Japan, from retail stores to restaurants to golf courses, if you pay with a Japan Airlines co-branded credit card. These miles are in addition to the spending bonuses that Japan Airlines credit cards already earn. However, since only Japanese citizens can sign up for a Japan Airlines co-branded credit card, this doesn’t apply to most of our readers.

Visiting Hot Springs

If you’ve ever been to Japan, you may be familiar with the phenomenon of onsens. This term refers to Japanese hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in experiencing, you’ll be delighted to learn that Japan Airlines has its very own online portal for locating onsens around Japan and earning JMB miles for making eligible bookings with them.

With this portal, you can earn 2X miles per 100 Japanese yen spent. To do so, you must make a reservation with an eligible partner through its official website or over the phone. Then, present your JAL Mileage Bank card at check-in and mention that you’d like to earn JMB miles. The concierge at the facility should then ask you to fill out a mileage registration form.

How to Redeem JAL Mileage Bank Miles

Now that you’re familiar with all of the different ways to earn JAL Mileage Bank miles, let’s discuss why you might want to do so in the first place. There are several different ways to redeem JMB miles. However, in general, the best way to maximize the value of your miles is going to be to redeem them for award flights either with Japan Airlines or one of its partner airlines.

Nonetheless, in the following sections, we’ll take a look at all of the different ways that you can spend your JMB miles and the value per mile that each redemption method offers.

Flying with Japan Airlines

Of course, JMB miles can be redeemed for flights with Japan Airlines. Japan Airlines does use a series of standard award charts to price its own award flights. Unfortunately, like many other parts of the JAL Mileage Bank program, these award charts are rather complicated and difficult to decipher in comparison to award charts from other frequent flyer programs.

For one, Japan Airlines awards come at two price levels: base miles and PLUS. When redeeming for PLUS awards, you’ll typically need to spend more miles than you would at the base miles price. This is because PLUS is a service that allows you to redeem additional miles for awards that wouldn’t have been available otherwise.

In general, if you’re looking to get good value out of your JMB miles, you should only book base miles awards. However, if you’re really desperate to book an award, then paying the PLUS rate in order to free up award space might make sense.

Japan Airlines publishes two sets of award charts: one for international flights and another for domestic flights.

Japan Airlines Domestic Awards

For domestic award flights, prices are based on the route on which you’re traveling and the cabin class. To use these award charts, you need to first select your desired cabin class and then navigate to your desired route.

For instance, if you wanted to know the award price of a domestic First Class flight from Hokkaido to Okinawa, you would first select “First Class” along the top bar and then navigate to the drop-down menu for the Hokkaido-to-Okinawa route.

Once you click the drop-down menu, you’ll see an award chart displaying the different kinds of routes between cities in Hokkaido Prefecture and cities in Okinawa Prefecture and the different award prices for these routes at the base miles level and the PLUS level.

It is possible to find decent value by redeeming JMB miles for Japan Airlines-operated domestic flights, particularly in premium cabins. For instance, if you refer to the award chart above, you’ll see that the base miles price for a one-way First Class flight from Sapporo to Okinawa (Naha) is 22,000 miles.

We found a one-way First Class flight along this route for 54,260 Japanese yen (which is equal to about $382 at the current conversion rate).

Thus, if you were to book this flight with JMB miles instead of cash, you would be getting a value of about 1.7 cents per mile ($382 / 22,000 miles = 1.7 cents per mile). That’s fairly low value for a First Class award redemption, but it’s definitely not the worst way that you can spend your JMB miles.

In general, though, it’s easier to find good value when redeeming for Japan Airlines international flights and partner-operated flights.

Japan Airlines International Flights

As with Japan Airlines domestic flights, Japan Airlines-operated international flights come at two price levels: base miles and PLUS. However, PLUS rates are not available for international flights in First Class. For Economy Class, Premium Economy Class and Business Class, there are both base miles and PLUS award charts.

To find the price of a Japan Airlines-operated international award flight, first, select either “base miles” or “PLUS” from the top bar. Then, select the region you’d like to fly to or from. Once you click on a region, you’ll see an award chart with the award price in each cabin class for flights between Japan and each city in that region that’s part of the Japan Airlines route network. You’ll also be able to see the applicable fuel surcharges and taxes and fees for each route.

The award prices for Economy Class, Premium Economy Class and Business Class remain the same no matter the time of the year. The award prices of First Class award flights, on the other hand, do change according to whether you book them in Low Season, Regular Season or High Season. Here is the seasonality chart for Japan Airlines First Class international flights:

To find a First Class award price, the process is pretty similar to using the award charts for other cabin classes. Simply choose the region you want to fly to or from. Then, you’ll see an award chart with the one-way prices for flights between Japan and each city in that region (as well as the applicable fuel surcharges, taxes and fees). However, unlike with the other cabin classes, there will be three award rates displayed for Low Season, Regula Season and High Season.

Japan Airlines typically levies fairly high fuel surcharges on its own award flights. For instance, if you want to fly from North America to Japan, regardless of your cabin class, you’re going to have to pay a minimum of $275.50 in fuel surcharges, which makes it difficult to extract a lot of value out of your miles when redeeming this way.

Still, if you’re able to find international premium cabin awards at the base miles price, you may be able to get some solid value out of your JMB miles.

For instance, you can fly from any of the Japan Airlines destinations in the U.S. to Japan in Business Class for 50,000 miles one-way. These destinations include Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

When we searched for one-way flights from Boston to Tokyo, we found a Business Class ticket for $6,988 and a First Class ticket for $15,268, both of which seemed to be on the lower end.

If you were to book the Business Class ticket above with JMB miles, it would cost you 50,000 miles plus $328 in fuel surcharges, taxes and fees. So, taking those added fees into account, this redemption would yield a value of over 13 cents per mile, which is fantastic.

If you were to book the First Class ticket listed above, it would cost you 85,000 miles plus $328 in taxes and fees. So, once again accounting for those additional fees, this redemption would yield a value of over 17 cents per mile, which is incredible.

Of course, there’s the issue of finding premium cabin award availability, and Japan Airlines Business Class and First Class award space can be hard to find. But, if you have a large sum of JMB miles sitting in your Mileage Bank account, it may be worth the search because, as demonstrated above, these kinds of redemptions can yield a ton of value per mile.

Flying with Airline Partners

While the award charts for Japan Airlines-operated flights are rather complicated, the pricing of partner award flights is fairly simple. There are two main distance-based award charts that Japan Airlines uses to price its partner awards: one for Oneworld Alliance partners and another for non-Oneworld Alliance partners.

Here is the Japan Airlines award chart for Oneworld Alliance partners:

Here is the Japan Airlines award chart for non-Oneworld Alliance partners (excluding flights operated by Jetstar Japan):

First Class award flights are not available on flights with Air France, Emirates, Korean Air or Malaysia Airlines. First Class flights are priced as Business Class flights for American Airlines flights with two classes of service (for instance, Economy Class and First Class), Hawaiian Airlines inter-island flights and all Alaskan Airlines flights.

In general, when trying to maximize the value of your JMB miles, you’ll get more value for your miles when redeeming for premium cabin flights and flights on partner airlines that typically charge higher cash prices for their flights (such as Cathay Pacific, Emirates and American Airlines).

Another fantastic way to get great value out of your miles is to take advantage of JAL’s extremely generous stopover policy. For award itineraries with non-Star Alliance partners, you’re allowed a total of three stopovers. For award itineraries with Star Alliance partners, you’re allowed a total of seven stopovers. If you have some flexibility in your travel plans to visit multiple cities and utilize these stopovers, you can massively increase the amount of value that you can get out of your JMB miles.

When determining which award flights offer the most value per mile, you can simply divide the cash price of the flight by the price of the flight in miles (while factoring in any taxes and fees that you might be required to pay when booking the award).

When using stopovers, there are some rules and restrictions to be aware of. For instance, you can’t back-track to the point of origin in order to continue on to a final destination and you can’t back-track to the country of origin in order to continue on to a third country.

Using the stopover feature can be slightly confusing. However, to get you started, here are a couple of sweet spots and sample itineraries in the JAL Mileage Bank program that can help you get value out of your miles:

Fly to Hawaii and Mexico in the Same Itinerary from the U.S. West Coast on Alaska Airlines

One of the best partners in the JAL Mileage Bank program for U.S.-based travelers is Alaska Airlines, which has a reputation for good customer experience and an extensive route network around the U.S. West Coast, Hawaii and Mexico. For Alaska Airlines itineraries between 4,001 and 8,000 miles, you’d have to pay 40,000 JMB miles in Economy Class. We created an itinerary beginning and ending in Seattle that allows you to visit popular destinations in Hawaii and Mexico as another U.S. city that sneaks in at just under 8,000 miles.

Here are the different legs of this journey:

• Seattle (SEA) to Honolulu (HNL)
• Honolulu (HNL) to San Diego (SAN)
• San Diego (SAN) to Cabo San Lucas (SJD)
• Cabo San Lucas (SJD) to Seattle (SEA)

As you can see, the total mileage of this itinerary (according to the Great Circle Mapper) would be 7,907 miles, which means that this itinerary would just sneak into the range between 4,001 and 8,000 miles. Thus, you could book this whole trip for just 40,000 JMB miles.

Fly Around the Continental U.S. on American Airlines

Another great way to take advantage of Japan Airlines lenient policies on stopovers is to book flights around the continental U.S. on American Airlines. You can book itineraries between one mile and 4,000 miles in distance in American Airlines Economy class for just 25,000 JMB miles. With how expensive flights around the U.S. can be, this is an excellent way to get a lot of value out of your JMB miles. For instance, we created an itinerary beginning and ending in New York City that allows you to visit three different popular U.S. cities for just 25,000 miles.

Here are the different legs of this journey:

• New York City (JFK) to Chicago (ORD)
• Chicago (ORD) to Houston (IAH)
• Houston (IAH) to Miami (MIA)
• Miami (MIA) to New York City (JFK)

As you can see, the total mileage of this itinerary (according to the Great Circle Mapper) is 3,719 miles, which puts it just within the range of one to 4,000 miles. That means you could book all four of these flights for just 25,000 miles if you utilize Japan Airlines’s generous rules on stopovers.

Upgrade Awards

On top of redeeming JMB miles for award flights, you can redeem your miles for upgrades on revenue tickets that you’ve already purchased. Upgrade awards are only available on Japan Airlines-operated international flights. It’s also worth noting that upgrade awards purchased for children or infants require the same mileage as those for adults.

Japan Airlines has unique upgrade award prices for each of the international cities that it operates routes to, depending on which class of service you’re upgrading to and from. You’re allowed to upgrade from Economy Class to both Premium Economy Class and Business Class. However, you’ll have to pay the sum of both upgrades. For instance, below is the upgrade award chart for Japan Airlines-operated flights from Japan to Manila, Philippines:

If you wanted to upgrade from Economy Class to Business Class on one of these flights, it would cost you 21,000 miles: the sum of 9,000 miles (the price to upgrade from Economy to Premium Economy) and 12,000 miles (the price to upgrade from Premium Economy to Business).

On the other hand, you can’t upgrade from Economy Class or Premium Economy Class to First Class. Only those who were originally ticketed in Business Class may upgrade to First Class.

One upgrade award is required for each sector. Two upgrade awards will be required for itineraries that originate outside of Japan and use Japan as a transfer point to continue on to another international destination outside of Japan. For example, a one-way itinerary from Bangkok to Los Angeles with a connection in Tokyo would require two upgrade awards. Likewise, a round-trip itinerary between Tokyo and Manila would also require two upgrade awards.

Booking Hotel Stays

You can also use JMB miles to book stays at hotels with certain partners through JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace. To do so, simply navigate to the website; choose the “Redeem Miles” option; enter your destination, travel dates and number of guests and click the “Search Hotels” button.

From there, you’ll be shown a list of results that match your search query and their respective costs in JMB miles. Unfortunately, redeeming your miles this way tends to provide very little value per mile. For instance, we found a hotel in Tokyo available to be booked for 68,000 miles for one night.

If you were to book the same hotel for the same night with cash through the JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace, it would cost you $407.

Thus, this redemption would yield a value of about 0.6 cents per mile, which is very poor (especially compared to the amazing value that you can get by redeeming JMB miles for flights and utilizing stopovers).

Renting Cars

You can use JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace to book rental cars all around the world with JMB miles. Visit the website, select the “Redeem Miles” option, enter your desired pick-up and drop-off location, travel dates and pick-up and drop-off times and click the “Search Cars” button.

You’ll be presented with a list of available rental vehicles that match your search query and their respective costs in miles. However, much like when booking hotel stays with JMB miles, booking car rentals offers very poor value per mile.

For instance, we found an available rental car at New York City-LaGuardia Airport for 10,000 miles for one day.

If you were to book the same car rental with cash on the same dates through JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace, it would cost you $61.

Thus, this redemption would give you a value of slightly above 0.6 cents per mile, which is quite low.

Buying Merchandise

Through JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace, you can use JMB miles to purchase merchandise from a wide variety of vendors in categories including electronics, fashion, health, sports, groceries, pet supplies and much more.

Unfortunately, purchasing merchandise through JAL Mileage Bank World Marketplace also provides poor value per mile. For example, you could purchase an Apple Watch Series 9 GPS+Cellular Aluminum 45mm for 112,000 JMB miles.

However, if you were to purchase the exact same product from Apple directly, it would cost you $529.

Thus, this redemption would yield a very disappointing value of just over 0.5 cents per mile. All in all, you’re almost always better off purchasing merchandise with cash and saving your JMB miles for flight awards.

Coupons

You can also choose to redeem your JMB miles for Japan Airlines coupons that can be used for certain domestic and international flight tickets, hotel bookings, in-flight shopping, Japan Airlines-branded goods, mail-order items, airport transfer services and more.

For each 10,000 miles that you redeem, you’ll receive a coupon worth 12,000 Japanese yen (which is equal to about $83 at the current conversion rate). So, by redeeming your miles for coupons, you’d be getting a value of slightly over 0.8 cents per mile, which is poor.

If you’re going to use your miles to pay for a flight, it’s much better to just save up for an award flight than to partially pay for a flight using a coupon that you purchased with miles.

Donate Miles

Like many other frequent flyer programs, JAL Mileage Bank allows members to donate their miles to a number of different partner charities. Donations to each of the available charities are accepted in increments of 500 miles. For each mile that members donate, Japan Airlines will donate one Japanese yen (which is equal to about 0.7 cents at the current conversion rate) to that charity.

That means that redeeming your miles for charitable donations yields a value of about 0.7 cents per mile, which is very low. Still, if you want to use your miles to benefit the world, donating your JMB miles to charity is the best way to do so.

The Bottom Line

For most people outside of Japan, the JAL Mileage Bank program probably won’t serve as their primary frequent flyer program. However, if you tend to travel to Japan often or you’re a major frequent flyer miles enthusiast who’s willing to create complex itineraries that take advantage of Japan Airlines’s generous stopover policies, then JAL Mileage Bank may be a program worth paying attention to.

Japan Airlines has been a member of Oneworld Alliance since 2007, which means that you can both earn and redeem JMB miles on any airline that’s part of this alliance. Additionally, Japan Airlines has important partnerships with several non-Oneworld airlines, including Air France, Emirates, Korean Air and LATAM Airlines.

Unfortunately, what JAL Mileage Bank is seriously lacking is that the program isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major transferable credit card rewards programs, which makes JMB miles much more difficult to earn. The JAL Mileage Bank website is also rather difficult to use and its elite status program is unnecessarily complicated.

So, once again, if you’re interested in booking multi-city award itineraries that include several stopovers, JAL Mileage Bank is a fantastic program for doing so. However, if this doesn’t interest you, there are much more lucrative and simpler programs to take advantage of.