026 - 3:3:26, 21.54

[00:00:00] I am John and my goal is simple to visit all 47 Prefectures of Japan. The only reason that goal is even possible is because of points and miles turning everyday spending into flights, hotels, and experiences across Japan and the rest of Asia. This is rewarding routes, a podcast about making travel like that realistic and repeatable.

Each episode I'll share what I'm learning so you can plan smarter, travel more often, and feel confident using points and mouths without feeling overwhelmed from booking, award travel and choosing the right credit cards to build a meaningful itinerary. And exploring regions, traditions, and moments that just make Japan so special, we'll figure it out together.

If Japan is on your bucket list or you want to keep going back and explore Asia along the way, you're in the right place. Let's build your rewarding route, one trip at a time. Hello, and welcome back to another episode, and I have just [00:01:00] booked. Japan Airlines business class from LAX Los Angeles to Tokyo. So in this episode, I'm going to walk you through my entire process of booking that flight, because honestly, I knew there was a chance that maybe I can get a Japan Airlines flight, maybe in economy, maybe business class, but it just happened that a business class, uh, flights were available for a time that I was very interested in. So we're gonna dive deep into this and I'm gonna go through my entire booking process, letting you know how I was, I was able to do this and. A transfer bonus I was able to leverage, which actually isn't available anymore, but don't let that, um, turn you off from still being able to, because it's already been twice that this transfer bonus has popped up.

So this is something that will pop up again in the future, so you can just prepare yourselves for that moment when it does pop up again. [00:02:00] But before we get into the main topic of this episode, there is some news that dropped over the week and it is with Hyatt. So, as you know, I've talked about it many times on this podcast and how much I, I love Hyatt, and the value is so tremendous.

Well, just like with points and miles. Good things never last forever. If something seems like it's a tremendous value, there's a good chance that we will just change in the future. So that's what happened here, and Hyatt came out with some news of kind of changing the way it. It's, um, going to have its award chart, so at least they are keeping the award chart and not going to dynamic pricing like the other big brand hotel chains like Marriott and um, Hilton.

But the new award chart does increase the pricing quite a bit, especially for the more luxurious and higher end Hyatt that. [00:03:00] You know, a lot of people are eyeing and, and would like to stay at because when you're using points of Miles, it's really nice to really maximize your value and honestly stay at places that you would've never paid cash for.

Uh, a lot of people like doing that, and I've experienced it myself, and it's really nice to experience. These accommodations that are just like way above what I'm able to afford in cash, but I can use points to stay there and make my trip even more memorable and just elevate the experience so much more.

So that's why, you know, Hyatt was so good. The value was so affordable and people were able to stay at these amazing places. So. Starting in May, Hyatt is updating its award chart right now. Hyatt uses three tiers in their system. It's off peak, standard, and peak, so in May it's going to change over to five [00:04:00] tiers.

This is lowest, low, moderate, upper, and top. I am briefly mentioning this now because I'm going to have a, another episode, uh, in the future about all the changes, and usually every year around March, Hyatt comes out with a like restructured. Uh, categories for all of the hotels in its system. I believe in March 25th of last year, Haye came out with all of its new categories for hotels throughout its system, and a lot of Tokyos and, and a few throughout Japan had increased.

Some of them had lowered. But mostly with the high demand that Japan is having, uh, you'll see more increases than decreases. So I wanna wait for that to happen to make an episode and update all of you of how all of the updates Hyatt is going to come out with, as well as the rumored. Card that might be coming out soon.

Um, more premium [00:05:00] Hyatt card. So I'm kind of ho hoping to see if anything more is going to happen this month to make an episode and dive deeper into this topic. But to finish off what I was saying about the new Hyatt tiers, of the five tiers that are coming in May, um, Hyatt is still keeping eight categories, so they're not increasing any more categories, they're just changing the five tiers.

Within those categories, and the range of prices within each category is going to expand since it's going from three to five, which means some properties, most all properties, especially the popular ones in higher demand, are going to see real high increases. Uh, for example, category eight, like the park high of Tokyo.

You know it's going to cost up to 75,000 Hyatt points per night at like the new top tier level where under the current system right now, it's only costing you a [00:06:00] max of 45,000 points. So that's a pretty big jump right there. And. It's going to affect quite a lot of these properties that might see increases in time since Japan is seeing that high demand.

And just like last year when they raised a lot of the categories, especially in Tokyo, we could see that happening again this year. So I'll keep you all updated on any more news and we'll be diving deeper into this news, especially, uh, I'm just waiting to see if there's anything else that drops this month.

Other than that, I don't have any more news or updates. So let's get straight into the main topic of this episode. And I want to give a shout out to Max Miles points. Uh, he's a creator that I, I follow, and I, and I get a lot of great tips. He's always going out to Asia, using points in miles, finding fantastic redemptions, uh, staying at really cool places.

And he had made a [00:07:00] post about. Booking Japan airline business class seats, and he had posted a calendar chart of the month of February of 2027. I was already on the hunt for flights over to Japan. I was aiming for the fall of this year, but February of next year makes a lot of sense for us as well. It is off peak in Japan, and it's my birthday month, so.

You know, those, those things work for us and you know, it gives us a little bit more time to do smaller trips with our baby. And I still have trips to book and I'll be talking about the Chicago trip that we're booking. Uh, I should be booking it in the next few days and I'll be updating you on that in the next episode.

But, you know, we're always looking for opportunities to go to Japan. We knew we had the hos ready to go, and I found a really good redemption because a of max who [00:08:00] posted this calendar of February of 2027 and what it was, was. Flights from Los Angeles over to Tokyo for 55,000 miles in business class. This was, this is an incredible deal to find, especially for business class, which, you know, can range from around 70 to over a hundred thousand points.

Um, finding these 55,000 miles. For business class is a fantastic deal, and the taxes for this flight is $196 and 80 cents per person. So in this episode, I'm gonna go over everything that I learned from this experience of booking a business class flight with Japan Airlines and yeah, let's get into it and shout out to Max Miles points if you don't fall.

I'm going to link his, um, information in the show notes because he does have. Oh, he has a ton of experience with flights over to Asia and I'm constantly learning [00:09:00] from him. So shout out to him. I'll, I'll link his, like Instagram and um, and I'll even link the videos that he made specifically for these Japan airline flights.

Alright, so let's get into this, um, booking and I'll go over everything. So we'll start off with the transfer bonus that was happening during the time, uh, that I booked this flight that is now ended. It ended on February 28th, but don't worry, 'cause this transfer bonus had happened already twice before. So I can see this happening again maybe later in the year, um, maybe next year.

So it does give you, you know, I know it's not going on right now. But it gives you a chance if you don't have any, uh, capital One miles, some venture miles. Which is what I used for this transfer bonus since Capital One and Built are the only two that transferred directly over to Japan Airlines, capital One's the one that had the transfer bonus twice already.

And um, yeah, you know, in the future [00:10:00] this bonus can happen again and, and you know, if you're interested in like one of the cards, like the Avenger X, which I highly recommend and is the card that I have. Then, yeah, this, this is a great opportunity to, you know, not even book business class, but even economy class.

'cause I was completely fine just booking this in economy. But the, the opportunity to book a business class for 55,000 points, um, each one way was an opportunity that, you know, I have the points for and . I would love to experience this, chance, this opportunity. So we took it and, uh, if, if it ever happens for you and it's something that you would love to experience, you know, I think it, it just enhances the experience and.

I know I, I talked about in previous episodes, uh, that we're okay with flying in economy and for sure we're okay with flying economy. But , whenever you get these opportunities, which are kind of rare, especially going to Japan with such high demand and find [00:11:00] finding business classes can be very difficult now.

Um, yeah, whenever there's an opportunity and you have the points for it, definitely go for it. And, you know, these things are really cool to experience and. Uh, I'm glad that we're getting the chance to experience it again, , next year. So let's get into it. So the normal ratio for Capital One miles going over to Japan, airline miles is 1000.

Capital one miles. Is 750 Japan Airline miles. The promotion that was going on was about a 30% bonus. So for every 1000 venture miles, it was 975 Japan Airline miles, making it almost a one to one ratio, which is, you know, good, good enough for me. I'll take that all day. Absolutely.

The value isn't fully there, but the value, I mean, it's close enough, honestly, . So what I did is I transferred 119,000 venture miles over [00:12:00] to my Japan Airlines mileage account. I would recommend just opening up a Japan Airlines mileage, uh, account if you plan on ever doing. A transfer like this or any other airline that you plan on doing a transfer for, just make an account with them.

That way you already have it established and ready to go and link up once you're ready to make a transfer over to that airline. So I went ahead and transferred over those points, 119,000 venture miles, and that came out to 116,000 in 26 Japan Airline miles, because the ratio isn't one-to-one, so it's slightly getting.

A little bit less, but it was enough to book this flight because this flight in total was going to cost us for two business class seats and a lap infant. It came out to 115,500 miles. The taxes on that were. 65,820 yen, which [00:13:00] converts over to $417 and 20 cents. So for two business class seats and the lap infant to just cost us $417 and 20 cents, which is really good. And this is one way, this is one way from LAX over to Tokyo. So I still have to worry about positioning ourselves from Orlando, Florida to LAX, but I'll go ahead, have a lot of Southwest Rapid rewards. So I'll go ahead and book that once Southwest opens up.

All the way until February of next year, then I'll have that flight booked. I won't have the companion pass anymore by then, but it's okay. I'll make sure to save enough points to have for that positioning flight later on, uh, at the beginning of 2027. So now on the details of this flight, so this flight is going from Los Angeles, LAX over to Tokyo nata.

Uh, I, it [00:14:00] is the further of the two Tokyo airports, but the deal was for nata, so I'm completely fine with doing that. The aircraft is a 7, 8, 7, 900, I believe it has the older model of the business class seats, which is still fine. It still looks really good. Uh, I watched a few YouTube videos already on, and it just, again, an idea, but the newer models for the new.

Updated business class, if you're ever curious about 'em, are on the A three fifties. So if you're ever interested in looking at, um, trying to get the new and upgraded product of business class, when you're trying to book this Japan Airlines flight, then you can look for the little red tag that says A three 50 instead of 7, 8, 7.

So just a tips there. Something I learned from Max. So shout out to you. But, um, yeah, I was, um, really happy that I, I was still able to get any kind of business class. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting it. [00:15:00] Uh, it just happened and yeah, I just took the opportunity. So very grateful for that. And, um, excited to really, uh, experience this business class on Japan Airlines 'cause we've only been able to experience business class once, um, before on a united flight over two, uh, Narita from LAX as well.

But, uh, it was on United Polar. Really good product. Um, really enjoyed that, uh, that chance to, uh, fly business class, but. I'm really excited to, experience it on a Japanese carrier now because both times that I've flown economy with, uh, either a NA or Japan Airlines, just flying an economy was still really good experience, really good food.

Felt, it felt really comfortable for those flights. So that's why flying economy on either one of the Japanese carriers like a NA or Japan Airlines is still [00:16:00] a really good product and you're still getting really good service and you know, it's still really enjoyable to fly economy, but to fly business class on one of these carriers, there's gonna be a really good experience and we're excited to, um.

To, yeah, to, to have this opportunity. And I can't wait to share it with you once the time comes that we take this flight and the, you know, the experience of having an infant with us, you know, is, is definitely going to, it'd be fun , and it, it is going to be an experience. We'll see how that goes.

But it, it is nice to have that extra space. 'cause we have the two middle business class seats. So we will be together and, you know, we could take turns taking care of him while the other one naps. And. You know, it, it'll be, uh, I think a little bit more comfortable for us instead of, uh, worrying of how this trip will go.

Um, we are gonna take a few flights before this trip just to see, uh, what works and what doesn't, and, [00:17:00] and see, you know, what we should take on flights for our little one just so we have some experience before a long haul flight. Like this one, but yeah, it'll be really good. I can't wait to really, um, share this experience with you and, and see how it goes.

So yeah, we're really excited and. You know, I'm so glad we were able to, to find this deal. So let's go into the price comparison now. Now I'm going to share the , cash price for this exact flight that we just booked. Um, so with 115,500 miles used and paying the taxes of 470 $17 and 20 cents. That was a, that's a really good deal for two business class seats.

The cash price for this flight would've been $6,468 in total. This is with the fees and the tickets. So going from just using our miles and then just paying the $417, [00:18:00] you know, compare that to paying $6,468. What a deal that is. And, um, yeah, that's why I'm so grateful for finding this opportunity and, and, and being able to experience this and having the points, uh, available was really nice.

Um, because I've sat on those Capital One points for, for some time now, and it's usually, I like to earn points and then burn 'em so that I don't get hit with devaluations, and then those points lose a lot of value, but. I missed out on the first opportunity when the transfer bonus with Japan Airlines came out because I, I wasn't sure.

We were still still trying to buy a house and uh, we knew we had a kid on the way, so it was kind of, uh, it was kind of all up in the air. But now that things have settled a bit and this transfer bonus came back, I already knew kind of what we wanted. And once I saw those redemptions for February of [00:19:00] 2027, yeah, we had to take those so.

A really good, um, value. As you can see, these are the kind of things that you can find with these, uh, kind of redemption. So just this is all from, you know, I'm learning this as I go because I haven't done this type of like business class redemption since. I think 2020 when, uh, you know, the world was at a different time than, and, and a lot of business class seats were available because Japan was closed for some time.

Um, so I, I got lucky with those bookings. But to book this now where Japan is still in very high demand. Yeah. I hope, um, this experience and, and what I was able to do. That you're able to replicate it or, or do something similar. If it's not business class and you have a bigger family, you can take everybody in economy.

You know, there's so many different redemptions that you can do. Um, so you know, if, if you have done a redemption or you planning [00:20:00] to do a redemption, definitely reach out because I, I want to hear these stories. I want to hear from you. Uh, I know a few people have reached out, and I am so grateful for you guys messaging me and, and sending me what you've done, cards that you applied for, things that you're learning.

I love to hear these things from you, so I'm really grateful for those who have messaged me back and, um, and, and have asked questions. I love this and, you know, I, I just want to share my experience so that you can take those experience and, and make them your own. And you can really. You know, enjoy travel and, and do it more often and, and go to places that maybe felt like they were a little bit out of reach.

So, yeah, that, that's, um, that's the cash value for this, um, this whole booking. And I'm really happy with it. I'm really happy that we're able to find this redemption. So the key matter of this was the transfer bonus. The transfer bonus was. The reason I was able to do this, and I, and I do have a [00:21:00] little bit more Capital One points, and the way I was able to accumulate over 200,000 Capital One points was through the signup bonus, through the two x everyday spend on, you know, I was using that card, the Venture X card for so many of my purchases, uh, for, for almost a year.

Um, and I had a few referrals that. You know, I am grateful for, so, you know, that helped me get another 50,000, um, venture miles. So I was able to rack up a little bit of points that way. And then, you know, have those points ready for this transfer bonus that came up and be able to book it, um, book the two business class seats and, you know, the infant that cost.

I, you know, I don't even think I talked about how much the infant was. I'm already deep in this podcast, so apologies for not mentioning it. I don't think I mentioned it earlier, but for the two adults in business class, it's 110,000 miles. For the [00:22:00] infant, it's 5,500 miles. So in total it's , 115,500 miles.

So apologies I didn't mention that before. Um, I might have just, I think I just skipped over that, um, while I was reading my outline of everything that I had put in here. But yeah, so the infant was only 5,500 miles. Um, and then we were 110,000 miles. So yeah, apologies there. I, I didn't mean to leave that out.

Um, but that's how much it was for the lap infant, so really affordable. And what I went ahead and did after I booked this was I still had some Capital One miles just leftover and I didn't really have any place that I wanted to really. Transfer them over to. So I went ahead and transferred the rest of my Capital One points over to Japan Airlines to hopefully get more, uh, seats coming back on the, you know, the [00:23:00] return segment.

'cause I always book my flights in one way to make it a little bit easier and. More flexible because the more flexible you are with points of miles, the better redemptions and the more opportunities it gives you to get, you know, if you want business class or if you want, you know, economy, whatever. It just gives you more flexibility and, and.

It's just easier to manage that way. So what I'm planning to do is I, I believe I have 89,000 Japan airline miles. Uh, they haven't opened up any more seats. Um, I, I believe for March of 2027 when we will be coming back. Um, so once those get released, I'm planning to book possibly one business class. Uh, seat and one economy.

So I'll have my wife with the infant in business class, and I'll take economy. Maybe we'll swap a little bit during the flight if they allow us. I'm not sure how that goes. I'll have to [00:24:00] find out. But, um, but I'm okay with, you know, if she's, she can have the business class with the infant. That way they have like a little bit more space.

Uh, it's a bit more comfortable for them. And you know, I'm finding a lot, well, I'm finding a few. Business class seats for 55,000 points, and normally it's two seats, maybe one seat is what I'm seeing for a few days. Scattered at the end of February of 2027. So once March, like the beginning of March starts popping up, then I'll start looking at flights from, um, Haida over to LAX because that's one of the routes that the newer product for business class on the A three 50 that I mentioned before, that's one of the routes that they have.

So if it's possible and I could book a, a flight on that newer aircraft that has the, the newer business class seats, then I'll go ahead and do that. If it's. You know that that price marked at 55,000 [00:25:00] miles. If not, then I'll just book whatever the, whatever, 7, 8, 7. Uh ha that has the best deal for the 55,000 miles for that one business class C.

And then I'll book the economy flight for myself. I'll have to do it on two reservations. I can't do that on one. So once I, I'm able to book that, then I'll, I'll. Update you on how that goes, but I just wanted to get an episode out there to share my experience and how I was able to get two business class seats over to Japan, uh, from LAX over to Tokyo nata, and yeah, it, it's exciting.

I can't wait. I'm glad I have another, uh, trip booked to Japan and now. We're going to, you know, throughout the year, we're going to dive deeper into episodes of building itineraries, um, learning more about prefectures. Now I can start. Um, really diving deeper into, um, more, um, more content about [00:26:00] Japan itself.

Learning about these prefectures, learning about the meals that are known in these prefectures, um, things to do, things to book. There's a lot that I've, I'm just excited to get into that I haven't been able to really dive into, uh, deeply because I haven't. You know, I didn't have a trip booked. And I think it's easier to teach things once you've learned about 'em.

And then once you teach things, you learn even more about them. Um, is from, you know, my experience and I'm learning so much by just doing this podcast and sharing what I've learned. With you and, and I hope that you are gaining the, uh, the value from what I'm saying. And, and I hope that you're able to take what I, I'm, what I'm talking about and apply it to yourself and, and take these incredible trips and book these flights for with points and, and miles and pay.

You know, very low cost and fees [00:27:00] and, and just be able to take these trips more often and, and to go to places that maybe are on your buck bucket list and, and, and create these experiences. I do wanna mention that because this, you know, I, I mentioned that I transferred over to rest of my Capital One points to Japan Airlines.

'cause of my plan to book, you know, a business class and economy. If that doesn't happen, I'll just end up booking both economy. It's fine, but I don't recommend transferring. Your points over to an airline without a plan, like because of a transfer bonus. This works for me 'cause I know I, um, I'm confident I'll be able to, to manage and find something, but I just don't want it to happen to you where there's a transfer bonus.

You, you do, you transfer all your points. And then they're stuck with that airline. 'cause once you transfer 'em, they're stuck in, uh, whatever transfer partner you send them to. So, just wanted to give a heads up, like just a [00:28:00] reminder, just make sure you have a plan before, just don't transfer your points because you see a good transfer bonus.

Make sure you have a plan behind it because I don't want you to transfer 'cause you see a really good, you know, bonus, but not have a plan behind it. So I, I just thought I'd mention that because I, I don't want you to just. Lose your points. I want to make sure that you, you have a plan and you make sure that you use your points, um, for your goals and, and what you want.

So because they're your points. So yeah, just thought I'd just put that out there. But yeah, overall that was my experience. Uh, that's how I was able to find business class seats. Um, yeah, I'll be making updates on, you know, the return flight positioning flights when Southwest opens up, uh, in February, 2027.

I do have a Chicago trip that I need a book, so I'll go ahead and talk about that in a future episode. Uh, if you have any questions, definitely [00:29:00] reach out to me. Um, you can reach out to me on Instagram, it's John Diaz. You can reach out through email at Rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com. Uh, if you plan on redeeming with Japan Airlines in the future, let me know.

If you plan on doing any other redemptions, let me know, too. I'd love to hear these things. If you've ever taken a part of any transfer bonuses Yeah, share those. I, I'd love to hear about 'em. So. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I hope you got some really good value out of it, and I'll see you on the next one.

See ya.