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The American Airlines Business Extra program has just added Japan Airlines its first new partner in quite a few years. Program members can earn and burn Business Extra Points on Japan Airlines flights with immediate effect although, with transpacific travel not exactly blossoming right now, it may not be until next year until the full benefits of this partnership can be reaped.
What Is Business Extra?
Business Extra is the American Airlines loyalty program for SMEs that rewards businesses for booking employees’ travel with the airline while employees still earn AAdvantage Miles and elite status credits in the usual way. It’s a nice win-win situation for businesses and employees alike and is a program that more people should probably be participating in.
JAL Is Now A Business Extra Partner
Zach Griff appears to have been the first to report that Japan Airlines (JAL) is now part of the Business Extra program and it’s the first new partner added since British Airways and Iberia joined a number of years ago.
Business Extra awards 1 point per $5 of eligible spending (fare + carrier charges) and going forward this earning rate will apply to spend on all JAL international flights (flights for travel within Japan will not qualify for Business Extra credit).
With JAL now being part of the Business Extra program, it is also now possible to redeem Business Extra Points for flights operated by the airline although considering the number of points these awards cost, these may not be the best use of Business Extra Points.
Keen-eyed readers will notice that although Business Extra Points are not awarded or travel wholly within Japan, they can be redeemed for travel within Japan.
Disappointingly, Business Extra Upgrade Awards continue to be restricted to American Airlines and American Eagle flights only so there’s no way to make use of a BXP3 award (oneway upgrade on a discounted fare) to upgrade into JAL’s excellent new Business Class cabin.
Have looked through the redemption options available on JAL I don’t think I’ll be redeeming my Business Extra Points for flights with the airline. I’ll happily accrue as many points as I can when I fly with JAL (an airline I really like) but the two best uses of Business Extra points are still the BXP1 award (650 points for a one-way upgrade within the US or between the US and the Caribbean) and the BXP3 award (3,100 points for a one-way upgrade between North America & Europe, South America, Central America, Asia or the South Pacific).
Bottom Line
The American Airlines Business Extra program has now added JAL as a partner airline. Members of the Business Extra program can now earn points on all JAL international flights and can redeem points on flights across the whole JAL network.
