Special upgrade award discount on JAL Europe and North America routes

Special upgrade discount campaign on Europe and North America routes. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced a rather amazing upgrade campaign for JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) members in the American and Europe/Middle East/Africa regions as part of the Thanks to 25 million JMB members! celebration. For a limited time, you can save up to 20,000 miles when upgrading from Economy to Business class on JAL flights between Japan and North America and Europe! However JAL is only running this campaign for a very limited time! Below are the details

Promotion Periods
From North America to Japan
December 26 2012 - December 30 2012 (onboard basis)

Form Europe to Japan
December 24 2012 - December 30 2012 (onboard basis)


From Japan to North America
January 1 2013 - January 5 30 2013 (onboard basis)

Form Japan to Europe
January 2 2013 - January 4 30 2013 (onboard basis)

Eligible Members
JMB members in American Region
JMB members in Europe/Middle East/Africa regions

Eligible Fares
Economy class fare with booking class of W, E, Y, B, H or K

Applicable Routes
Japan = Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver
Japan = Frankfurt, London, Paris*

* Note that Moscow route is ineligible

Required Miles for Upgrade

North America: 30,000 miles (roundtrip) and 15,000 (one-way)

Europe: 35,000 miles (roundtrip) and 17,500 (one-way)

To redeem for this award, your flight has to be during the campaign periods and you need to give JMB Helpdesk a call. It cannot be done online. This is one of the best upgrades campaign I have seen over the years. The closest one was the Super Discounted Campaign back which one-way upgrade only costs 10,000 miles. But that was during the very tough time and things are different now!

For more details, you can refer to JAL website (Japanese, English)

I am disappointed that my flights fall outside the campaign periods :( Had I kept my schedule last year, I would at least able to get one of my flights upgraded with this discounted campaign. So now let's see what else JAL will announce on October 25 when they reveal the 2nd round of campaigns for the 25M members celebration. For the list of announced campaigns, you can refer to this post. 

Related Post:
JAL Mileage Bank has reached 25 million members!
JAL announces the 2nd round of campaign for the 25 million JMB members celebration