Japan Airlines, commonly referred to as JAL, is the second-largest airline in Japan (behind All Nippon Airways) and a member of Oneworld Alliance. The airline operates a wide variety of domestic and international routes from its main hubs in Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports. So, if you’ve ever flown to Japan, there’s a pretty good chance it was on Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines operates its own frequent flyer program, known as JAL Mileage Bank, that allows members to earn miles in many ways (including flying with Japan Airlines and its partner airlines, staying with hotel partners, renting cars, shopping and more) and then redeem those miles for flights. Of course, there are other ways to redeem miles through the JAL Mileage Bank program. However, if you want to get the most value out of your JAL miles, the best way to do so is by redeeming them for award flights on Japan Airlines or one of its partners.

Unfortunately, the process of joining the JAL Mileage Bank program and booking award flights is difficult, as the Japan Airlines website is fairly outdated. So, in this article, we’ll explain exactly how to join the program and book award flights as well as how to quickly save up enough miles for your next award flight.

Joining Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank

As mentioned, the process of joining the JAL Mileage Bank program is more complicated than joining other frequent flyer programs. It seems that best way to join the program is to go to the Japan Airlines website and click the small “Help & Contacts” button at the top of the homepage.

Japan Airlines website

Then, once you’re redirected to a new page, you’ll choose the “Mileage” option to access the page about the JAL Mileage Bank program.

Japan Airlines website - “Mileage” option

On the next page, scroll down to the “FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)” section and click on the “Enrollment” hyperlink.

Japan Airlines website - FAQs about Enrollment

After that, you’ll need to find the “Q&A Result” section on the next page and find the “How can I join JAL Mileage Bank Program?” question. After you click on that question, click on the “Click here” hyperlink in the answer in order to access the application form.

Japan Airlines website - How can I join JAL Mileage Bank Program

You’ll then have to accept the program’s terms and conditions and click the “Next” button near the bottom of the page.

JAL Mileage Bank Program - Terms and conditions

After that, you’ll need to enter the email address that you want to use for your account and then you’ll need to re-enter that email address and click the “Send” button on the bottom of the page.

Enrollment in JAL Mileage Bank (JMB)

At this point, an email will be sent to the address that you entered containing a link that you’ll need to click in order to continue the enrollment process. This is the JAL Mileage Bank program’s way of verifying your email address.

Once you click on this link, you’ll be brought to an online form, where you’ll be required to enter personal information, including your name, gender, home address, phone number and email address. You’ll also be required to create a password and a six-digit PIN code that you will use to log into your JAL Mileage Bank account.

JAL Mileage Bank Application Form

Once you enter all of this information, click the “Next” button in the bottom-right corner of the page. From there, you’ll be given a unique JAL Mileage Bank account number, which you’ll use to sign into your account and to earn miles through the program. We recommend writing this number down somewhere. You’ll also be sent a physical JAL Mileage Bank card with this number printed on it.

How to Earn Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank Miles

As a member of the Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank program, you’re eligible to both earn and redeem rewards miles. There are many ways to earn miles through this program. However, some methods of earning miles through this program are more effective than others. In the following sections, we’ll briefly look at a few of the best ways to earn JAL Mileage Bank miles.

The minimum price for an award flight through the JAL Mileage Bank program is 4,000 miles, which is enough for a one-way Japan Airline-operated domestic economy flight in “Zone A” (which is defined on the Japan Airlines domestic award chart webpage). So, before you purchase an award flight through this program, you’ll need to have at least 4,000 miles in your account balance (and more if you want to purchase an international award flight).

Flying with Japan Airlines

Unfortunately, the JAL Mileage Bank program isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs, nor does it offer any co-branded credit cards to U.S. consumers. Thus, the best way for most U.S. travelers to earn miles with this program is by flying.

Of course, you can earn JAL miles by taking paid flights on Japan Airlines (as well as other JAL Group flights, including those operated by J-Air, Japan Air Commuter, Japan Transocean Air and Ryukyu Air Commuter). The number of miles you’ll accrue on these flights is based on the actual sector mileage of your flight as well as your cabin class and fare class. The following table includes the percentage of actual miles flown that you’ll earn in each fare class on JAL Group airlines:

Cabin classFare classMileage percentage
First ClassF, A150%
Business ClassJ, C, D, I125%
X70%
Premium Economy ClassW, R100%
E70%
Economy ClassY, B100%
H, K, M70%
L, V, S50%
O, G, Q, N30%

For example, if you were to take a 2,000-mile Japan Airlines-operated flight in premium economy class (fare class E), you would earn 1,400 JAL miles (2,000 miles flown x 70% = 1,400).

You’ll earn even more miles on JAL Group flights if you have Global Club elite status in the JAL Mileage Bank program. Global Club Oneworld Sapphire members earn 35% bonus miles on Japan Airlines flights, Global Club Crystal members earn 55% bonus miles on Japan Airlines flights and Global Club Premier members earn 105% bonus miles on Japan Airlines flights.

Flying with Partner Airlines

In addition to earning miles on flights with Japan Airlines, you can also earn miles on paid flights with any of Japan Airlines’s partner airlines. Since Japan Airlines is a member of Oneworld Alliance, you can earn JAL miles on flights with any Oneworld Alliance airline. Here’s the current list of Oneworld airlines:

In addition to the Oneworld Alliance partners listed above, you can earn JAL miles with several non-Oneworld partner airlines as well. Here are the other airlines on which you can earn JAL miles:

Each partner airline has its own unique earnings table that determines how many JAL miles you could be awarded for a flight with that airline. To view these tables, you’ll need to visit the Flight Mileage page on the Japan Airlines website and then click on the partner you wish to fly with. Then, multiply the distance of your flight (in miles) by the percentage associated with your fare class (just as you would for JAL Group flights).

In order to earn JAL miles on partner flights, you’ll need to select JAL Mileage Bank as your frequent flyer program of choice and enter your membership number, either when booking your flight or when checking in. The amount of time it takes for your JAL miles to land in your account depends on the partner airline that you fly with.

Other Ways to Earn

There are many other ways to earn miles through the Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank program, including booking stays at eligible hotel partners, renting cars, shopping online or in-store and even visiting certain hot springs in Japan. Unfortunately, none of these other earning methods are particularly effective for U.S.-based travelers.

Nonetheless, if you fly on Japan Airlines often and you use the JAL Mileage Bank program as your primary frequent flyer program, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with these other earning methods, as they could help you pick up some extra miles here and there.

Book Award Flights Through Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank

How to Book Award Flights Through Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank

Once you’ve earned enough miles through the JAL Mileage Bank program, you should be ready to book an award flight. The process of booking an award flight through this program can be confusing at times. However, by following the instructions below, you shouldn’t have too much trouble.

The first thing you need to do is visit the Japan Airlines website and log in to your JAL Mileage Bank account by clicking on the “Login” button in the top-right corner of the homepage. Once you’ve logged in, you should be returned to the homepage of the Japan Airlines website. From here, scroll down until you see the flight booking tool box. In order to book an award flight, you’ll want to click on the “Book Award Tickets” tab in this box.

Then, you’ll need to choose whether you want to book a domestic or international flight by clicking on the corresponding tab. If you choose to book an international flight, you’ll then need to choose whether you want to book that flight with Japan Airlines or one of its airline partners by clicking on the corresponding hyperlink.

There are also hyperlinks that say “JAL International Upgrade Awards” and “International Award Tickets Seat Availability Check Calendar.” These links can be useful if you wish to book an upgrade or check award availability over a wide range of dates.

Once you click on the hyperlink for the type of award flight you want to book, you’ll need to verify your account by entering a six-digit, one-time password that will be sent to your email address on file.

After you successfully enter the verification code, you’ll be redirected to a flight search page where you can choose to search for “JAL International Award Tickets,” “JMB Partner Airlines Award Tickets” (which are award flights operated by non-Oneworld partners) or “Oneworld Award Tickets” by clicking on the corresponding tab at the top of the page.

From there, the process of booking an award flight is fairly similar to booking a cash flight. You’ll need to select whether you’ll be flying round-trip, one-way or booking a multi-city itinerary. Then, you’ll enter your departure airport, arrival airport, travel dates, booking class and number of passengers. Once you’ve entered all of this information, click the red “Search” button in the bottom-right corner of the page.

On the next page, you’ll see a list of flight results that match your search query. You’ll also be able to see important information about these flights, including departure and arrival times, flight numbers, whether there’s Wi-Fi on board, number of available seats and flight durations. Flight results can also be filtered by layover airports. To add a flight to your itinerary, click the bubble to the left of that flight.

Once you’ve selected your departing flight, click the “Next flight” button in the bottom-right corner of the page to see the results for return flights (if you’re flying round-trip). After you select your return flight, click the “Continue” button to proceed to the next step.

After you’ve selected your flights, you’ll need to enter some personal information about any passengers on your itinerary, including name, date of birth, country of residence, home address, phone number, email address and travel document number.

Once you enter all of the required passenger information, you can proceed to the next page, where you will have the option to select the seat on your flight. You may be charged an additional fee for selecting your seat depending on which cabin class you’re booked in.

Finally, on the next page, you’ll need to enter a payment method to cover any applicable taxes and fees for your award flight itinerary. Once you’ve done so, you can confirm your award flight booking and you’ll receive a confirmation number, which you’ll need to check in for your flight. You should also receive a confirmation email containing this number.

You can receive a refund of your miles and taxes and fees if your award ticket is entirely unused and you submit your refund application within one year of the issue date of your ticket. A cancellation charge of 3,100 Japanese Yen (about $21) per ticket will be applied to all cancellations/refund requests.

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank program isn’t very relevant to most U.S.-based travelers. That’ss because this frequent flyer program doesn’t allow points transfers from any of the major U.S. credit card rewards programs (such as American Express Membership Rewards or Capital One Rewards) nor does it offer any co-branded credit cards to U.S. consumers. Thus, the most effective way for most U.S. travelers to earn JAL miles is to credit flights on Japan Airlines or one of its partner airlines to the JAL Mileage Bank program.

However, since Japan Airlines is a member of Oneworld Alliance, you’re probably better off crediting flights on Oneworld Airlines to a different Oneworld Alliance frequent flyer program, such as Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, American Airlines AAdvantage or British Airways Executive Club.

Nevertheless, if you tend to fly on Japan Airlines often, it might be a good idea to use the JAL Mileage Bank program as your primary frequent flyer program. And, if you’re able to save up a balance of JAL miles, you can often find high value per mile through this program since it prices award flights according to fixed award charts.

Unfortunately, the Japan Airlines website isn’t very user-friendly and is fairly difficult to navigate. So, if you ever need help with the process of booking an award flight through the JAL Mileage Bank program, you can always reference the step-by-step instructions in this article.