Japan Airlines and Bangkok Airways have announced a new partnership, though it must be the most anticlimactic announcement ever. I don’t see a press release, but rather only a promotion page to commemorate the new partnership.
Japan Airlines has a distance based award chart, and through the promotion you can get the following discounted prices for bookings made after November 7, 2012 for travel between November 15, 2012, and December 31, 2013:
While I’m not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth, I do love the diminishing promotional “return” as the distance increases.
It’s worth noting that you can also redeem Mileage Bank miles for travel in business class, though it’s not part of the promotion. That award chart looks as follows:
Keep in mind that Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is transfer partners with Starwood, so you can convert Starpoints to Mileage Bank miles at a 1:1 ratio. For every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer you also get 5,000 bonus points.
Bangkok Airways has a pretty good intra-Asia route network, largely to vacation destinations that don’t get a lot of other serfvice, so I can see this partnership being pretty useful for intra-Asia travel. Their route network looks like this:
Between this and Japan Airlines’ improved redemption rates on Emirates, the Mileage Bank program is worth keeping in mind.
(Tip of the hat to Pak’s JAL Blog)
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November 5th, 2012 at 6:12 pm
David m said,
I LOVE Bangkok Airways – great staff and great prop planes!
November 5th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Krusty said,
I’ve flown on Bangkok Airways several times, and always found them great (free ice cream on board – that impressed me). They also fly to the Maldives.
This could be useful – me and Mrs Krusty are currently banking SPG points. Obscure as it may seem, it’s worth knowing about. Thanks for pointing this out
November 5th, 2012 at 6:25 pm
Matt said,
I’ll be in Bangkok in April and BKK to REP route looks interesting. 10000 star points RT for relatively expensive flight.
November 5th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Krusty said,
Matt, I flew that route about 12 years ago. It was awesome. I’ve heard things there have become a lot more developed since then, but I’m sure it’ll still be great. Watch for the swarms of giant bats that launch over town at sunset (I’m not making this up – hundreds of bats the size of vultures filled the sky every night, slowly wheeling above the treetops – it was surreal). Incredible place.
When I did it, the flight was about US$150 R/T BKK>REP>BKK (including ice cream). Wonderful experience.
November 5th, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Jeff said,
As I’ve mentioned, it’s quite useful for cheap one-way tickets to Yangon for positioning for the mistake fare here: http://canadiankilometers.com/jal-mileage-bank-adds-pg-bangkok-airways-as-member-so-cheap-tickets-to-yangon/
November 5th, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Mattolo said,
How do we check award availability for Bangkok Airways?
November 5th, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Daniel said,
Also useful for us in Dhaka, as DAC-BKK for 5,000 points is an amazing deal.
November 5th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Romsdeals said,
What are the taxes and fees??
November 5th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
lucky said,
@ Mattolo — Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a way to do so online. I’m afraid you may have to call Japan Airlines to ask.
November 5th, 2012 at 7:58 pm
lucky said,
@ Romsdeals — I suspect they’re the same they’d be on a revenue ticket, which seems to be about $10-20 for a roundtrip inta-Thailand flight.
November 5th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
dcacoaster said,
Good find — is the 5000 miles redemptions for one way or roundtrip?
November 5th, 2012 at 8:13 pm
lucky said,
@ dcacoaster — It’s for a roundtrip with total travel distance under 1,000 miles (so under 500 miles in each direction).
November 5th, 2012 at 8:14 pm
dcacoaster said,
Got it — thank you!
November 5th, 2012 at 9:10 pm
Wei said,
BKK-USM RT for 5000 SPG points! If only I could book flights for 2013…
November 5th, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Lack said,
BKK-USM/RGN are both over 500 miles total for the round trip, so you need a bit more points.
Still a great deal considering revenue rates.
November 6th, 2012 at 6:41 am
Philipp said,
Any idea when this offer would end? I am planning a trip to Thailand and I am interested in a CNX-BKK-REP-BKK, do they allow stopovers?
Do you have the link for the ticket rules?
November 6th, 2012 at 10:43 am
lucky said,
@ Philipp — It sees to be valid through the end of the campaign period, though I guess they could pull it earlier if they wanted to. You are allowed a stopover, though the issue is that you can’t travel via your origin or destination airport enroute.
November 6th, 2012 at 10:44 am
lucky said,
@ Philipp — Here are the ticketing rules:
http://www.jal.co.jp/en/jalmile/use/partner_air/p_jmb/
April 22nd, 2013 at 2:16 pm
Matt M said,
Would I be able to do REP->BKK, BKK->USM, and then BKK->REP all on one 5k award? It says you can have two stopovers (with the USM->BKK surface sector counting as a stopover).
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