JAL Global Club as OW FFP -- anyone who can read Japanese?

[stargold]

**Newsflash**

Confirmed with JAL London:

1. You do not need a credit card, when resident outside Japan
2. You just need to initially qualify for Sapphire, then you will be offered membership
3. Once you join, you just have to pay the membership fee, or fly the required amount to be exempt from it
4. Everything else is as we discussed - i.e. it's possible to keep the membership (pretty much) forever provided you renew each year

So... it's an excellent deal really!

[HUGE AL]

Just checked the Korean site - in Korean, it says exactly the same thing as the Americas site (i.e. no requirement to hold the CC, but an "annual fee" which is waived in the two circumstances already described).

Kyo: I also doubt they would actually know

With all the combined knowledge here, we should put together a guide and pop it in the "Which FFP for Me" section to help others.

[stargold]

Just checked the Korean site - in Korean, it says exactly the same thing as the Americas site (i.e. no requirement to hold the CC, but an "annual fee" which is waived in the two circumstances already described).

Kyo: I also doubt they would actually know

[Kyo]

Update the thread on your findings on this confusing program.

Too much rambling on in the PM... only a mathematician would appreciate it...

stargold: I was checking based on the JL Singapore website, which of course has no mention of any credit card as there is no local JL card.

I should go down to the JL office as it's less than 200m down the road - I think they themselves wouldn't know, however..

At the moment, I'm thinking of beginning the run next year since there's just more time to go from Jan-Dec instead of starting it now and running for the next 24 weeks...

[HUGE AL]

I'm beginning to think that there are completely different qualification criteria for Japanese and non-Japanese residents... Still, if you can just enroll into JGC without doing the credit card, it defeats the whole point of having the separate JMB levels, doesn't it?

Completely agree. As mentioned to Kyo+, JL has got to have one of the most confusing FFP's out there.

[stargold]

stargold, according to JAL's website, I'm seeing a different story:

"JAL Global Club (JGC) membership [OW Ruby] is available to JMB members who have achieved 50,000 FLY ON Points or have taken at least 50 flights of 15,000 FLY ON Points on JAL Group airlines flights during one calendar year (January-December)."

"As a JGC member you can renew your membership with the payment of the renewal fee of 5,000 miles from your JMB account around the beginning of March."

The annual fee can be waived if you have a credit card OR, "JGC members who earn 25,000 FLY ON Points or fly 10 eligible flights with JAL/JALways international flights during the calendar year."

Regarding the JGC Premier (OW Emerald):

"JAL Global Club members who have accrued at least 80,000 FLY ON Points or boarded more than 80 flights of a minimum 25,000 FLY ON Points on JAL Group Airlines and/or oneworld member airlines in a calendar year will be enrolled in JGC PREMIER Service."

Renewal of the JGC Premier is the same as above qualification.

I don't know whether the Americas and Japan sites are supposed to be different, but it certainly says you need the credit card to qualify for JGC on the JP site:

JAL Global Club membership is available to JMB members who have achived 50,000 FLY ON Points or have taken 50 flights and 15,000 Points on JAL Group airlines flights with eligible fare in one calender year. JGC membership is qualified by an enrollment under JALCARD Club-A, Club-A Gold or JAL Diner's Club membership with payment of an annual fee(*).


* JALCARD Club-A : ¥10,500, Club-A Gold : ¥16,800, JAL Diner's Club : ¥23,100 (tax included)
* Employees of any airline companies and travel agencies are not eligible for JAL Global Club membership.

I'm beginning to think that there are completely different qualification criteria for Japanese and non-Japanese residents... Still, if you can just enroll into JGC without doing the credit card, it defeats the whole point of having the separate JMB levels, doesn't it?

[HUGE AL]

I've PM-ed you the mathematics... fairly certain it'll be painful...

Update the thread on your findings on this confusing program.

[Kyo]

I've PM-ed you the mathematics... fairly certain it'll be painful...

[HUGE AL]

That's to waive the annual fee...

---
The annual fee can be waived if you have a credit card OR, "JGC members who earn 25,000 FLY ON Points or fly 10 eligible flights with JAL/JALways international flights during the calendar year."
---

The 10 flights will already qualify for the annual fee waiver.

[Kyo]

I don't feel like doing the math, but shouldn't the 400 bonus FLY ON points per segment help you qualify that way (25k) instead of the segments?

That's to waive the annual fee...

---
The annual fee can be waived if you have a credit card OR, "JGC members who earn 25,000 FLY ON Points or fly 10 eligible flights with JAL/JALways international flights during the calendar year."
---

The 10 flights will already qualify for the annual fee waiver.

[HUGE AL]

Even better!

Still gotta figure out how to get another 20 weekends in KUL..

Pity it's not from March '09-March '10..

I'm still not sure if it's worth it, though... especially if I can get lounge access in KLIA somehow...

I don't feel like doing the math, but shouldn't the 400 bonus FLY ON points per segment help you qualify that way (25k) instead of the segments?

[Kyo]

Even better!

Still gotta figure out how to get another 20 weekends in KUL..

Pity it's not from March '09-March '10..

I'm still not sure if it's worth it, though... especially if I can get lounge access in KLIA somehow...

[HUGE AL]

And then, fly 10 JL flights every calendar year + pay 5000 miles renewal fee.

Dude, it's either or: You either fly the 10 segments OR pay the 5k miles. You don't have to do both. The 10 segments waives the fee.

[Kyo]

"JAL Global Club (JGC) membership [OW Ruby] is available to JMB members who have achieved 50,000 FLY ON Points or have taken at least 50 flights of 15,000 FLY ON Points on JAL Group airlines flights during one calendar year (January-December)."

"As a JGC member you can renew your membership with the payment of the renewal fee of 5,000 miles from your JMB account around the beginning of March."

The annual fee can be waived if you have a credit card OR, "JGC members who earn 25,000 FLY ON Points or fly 10 eligible flights with JAL/JALways international flights during the calendar year."

This was the backup plan

And then, fly 10 JL flights every calendar year + pay 5000 miles renewal fee.

It is actuallypossible to fly 50 JL flights for USD2,316.

But to save the BIS miles, one or two longhauls also would be considered

[HUGE AL]

Personally, I think the two are actually very different:

1. Given that JPY11,000 is not even USD150, the JGC fee has a long way to go until it starts to resemble lounge membership fees. In fact, I don't think the credit card fees would ever approach the lounge membership fees.

2. You can't just join the credit card schemes if you want to - you have to firstly achieve the necessary elite membership, then also qualify for the credit card.

3. An ANA Super Flyers Card or JAL JGC Credit Card is much more than a lounge membership since it offers other priority benefits as well as lounge access, across all the alliance carriers. Often, things like priority check-in can be just as important as lounge access to make the journey smoother.

Extremely well put!