Editor’s Note: TPG founder Brian Kelly is a Bilt adviser and investor.
There are plenty of foreign carriers with loyalty programs that offer great value. Japan Airlines Mileage Bank is one such program, but it’s often overlooked because it is not a transfer partner of American Express, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi ThankYou rewards.
However, with Bilt Rewards recently adding Mileage Bank as its newest 1:1 transfer partner, it’s now much easier to earn miles to redeem on Japan Airlines and its partner airlines.
Here’s why you should pay attention to Mileage Bank.
Related: New first class, business class and the rest: Flying the Japan Airlines A350-1000 in all 4 cabins
How to earn JApan Airlines Mileage Bank miles
There are many ways to earn Japan Airlines miles, both through flying and spending.
Earn Mileage Bank miles by flying
Japan Airlines is a member of the Oneworld alliance, which includes members like American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Qantas and British Airways. The airline also partners with other nonalliance airlines, including Air France, Emirates, Korean Air and Hawaiian Airlines.
You can earn miles by crediting your revenue from Japan Airlines, Oneworld and other partner flights to your Mileage Bank account. Check the partner earnings site and look at your airline and fare class to see how many miles you’ll earn. For example, most economy fares on American Airlines earn between 30% and 50% of the miles flown.
If you’re flying on a cheap fare and don’t hold status with American, crediting to Japan Airlines (even at the reduced earning rate) could still make sense.
Earn Mileage Bank miles with credit cards
Bilt Rewards members can transfer Bilt Points to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank at a 1:1 ratio. Bilt expects most transfers to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank to be completed within 10 minutes.
Japan Airlines Mileage Bank typically requires accounts to be at least 60 days old to redeem miles. However, Bilt members will be able to redeem miles within seven days after a transfer if their Japan Airlines Mileage Bank account is not 60 days old.
You can also transfer Marriott points to Mileage Bank at a 3:1 ratio. (You’ll also get 5,000 extra miles points for every 60,000 you transfer.) Earning Marriott points is fairly easy — the following credit cards earn bonus points on Marriott purchases, and many of them come with additional perks like elite status and annual free night awards:
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card: Best for Marriott loyalists looking for perks
- Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card: Best for Marriott loyalists who own a business
- Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card: Best for a solid bonus
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (see rates and fees): Best for Marriott loyalists looking for a modest annual fee
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card (see rates and fees): Best for entry-level Marriott travelers looking for a no-annual-fee option
- Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful® Credit Card: Best for some benefits
The information for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Earn Mileage Bank miles by shopping and other travel activities
You can also earn Japan Airlines miles through a myriad of business partners, including (but not limited to):
- Booking IHG, Hyatt, Marriott, Melia and other hotels through the Mileage Bank platform (and foregoing earning hotel points for these bookings)
- Booking rental cars through Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz and others
- Tokyo Monorail routes
- Select parking lots
- Onsen Ryokan
- Japan Airlines’ airport luggage delivery service
- Using WAON electronic money as payment at Aeon, Family Mart, and other WAON member stores across Japan
While Mileage Bank has an online shopping portal, this is only for redeeming miles, not earning them.
Related: The best times to visit Japan
Earn Mileage Bank miles by pooling
The Japan Airlines Family Club allows the pooling of miles for up to eight family members, all of whom must be immediate family, plus parents and in-laws. A Family Club membership is good for five years and must be renewed for subsequent five-year periods.
How to redeem Japan Airlines Mileage Bank miles
Mileage Bank uses multiple different award charts, depending on whether your travel is solely on Japan Airlines, on a single Oneworld or other partner airline, or multiple Oneworld airlines.
Japan Airlines operates flights to Tokyo from the following U.S. gateways:
- Boston Logan International Airport (BOS)
- O’Hare International Airport (ORD)
- Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
- Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport (KOA)
- John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK)
- San Diego International Airport (SAN)
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
Here are some of the best ways to redeem your Japan Airlines miles:
- Fly to Japan from North America for 25,000 miles in economy, 32,500 miles in premium economy and 50,000 miles in business class each way with reasonable fees, taxes and carrier-imposed surcharges, and no peak or off-peak pricing
- Fly Japan Airlines’ fabulous new A350 first class suite from the United States to Japan for 70,000 miles in low season, 85,000 miles in regular season and 100,000 miles in high season each way (you can check the season dates here)
- Book a lap infant for just 10% of the miles required for an adult on the same flight
- Book domestic flights within Japan from as little as 4,000 miles
- Book American Airlines domestic economy class flights of up to 1,000 miles in length for just 12,000 miles
- Book American Airlines or British Airways flights from the northeast United States to the United Kingdom for 23,000 miles each way in economy class, 30,000 miles in premium economy or 42,000 miles in business class each way
- Fly Emirates business class from JFK to Dubai International Airport (DXB) for 80,000 miles each way.
- Book flights of 6,001 to 8,000 miles in length on a single Oneworld carrier like Cathay Pacific for 80,000 miles. This covers most of the West Coast of the United States to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG)
You can also redeem miles for non-travel products like online shopping, but you won’t usually get great value from your miles this way.
Related: Cathay Pacific unveils its swanky new ‘Aria Suite’ business-class seat
Note that for bookings made on or after June 10, 2025, Mileage Bank award rates flying Japan Airlines to Japan will increase as follows:
- 27,000 miles in economy
- 40,000 miles in premium economy
- 55,000 miles in business class
- 110,000/125,000/140,000 miles in first class (depending on low, regular or high season dates)
There are no changes to partner redemption rates on this date.
Mileage Bank does not allow first-class awards on Air France, Emirates, Korean Air or Malaysia Airlines.
It’s worth noting that Mileage Bank has one of the most generous stopover policies of any airline loyalty program. Up to an incredible seven stopovers are allowed on multiple Oneworld airline redemptions, and three stopovers on a single Oneworld or other partner airline redemption.
Most Mileage Bank redemptions can be booked online.
Related: First look at Japan Airlines’ new premium economy on the Airbus A350-1000
Bottom line
If you’re willing to sit down and study the different promos, routing rules and award charts for the Mileage Bank program, you can get pretty far for very few miles. There are several zones in the distance-based award chart for partners that are ripe for creating itineraries that maximize the generous award charts and stopover rules.
Now that you can transfer Bilt points to Mileage Bank, this program is worth considering, especially if you hope to travel to Japan or beyond.