Japan Airlines and JetBlue to Interline at Boston, Los Angeles and JFK

Japan Airlines (JAL) and JetBlue Airways have agreed an interline partnership which the carriers say will allow travelers to book connections more conveniently between JetBlue’s network in North America and JAL’s network throughout Asia Pacific.

Through the agreement, which becomes effective on February 15, customers may book tickets for combined travel on JetBlue Airways and Japan Airlines through New York John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Boston will follow on April 22. Customers may book their connecting travel by calling Japan Airlines reservations or their preferred travel agents.

To promote the new interline agreement, reservations made by calling JAL’s U.S/Canada Customer Service and Support Center at 1.800.525.3663 (TTY/TDD by dialing 711 to National Relay Service Center) by March 31, 2012 for a combined itinerary will qualify for a waiver of the Ticketing Service Fee.

Japan Airlines has 35 General Electric GEnx-1B-powered Boeing 787s on order, plus options on 20 more

The combined itinerary must include including a JAL-operated transpacific sector and a JetBlue segment connecting at JFK, LAX, or Boston Logan International Airport.

JAL offers daily non-stop service from New York and Los Angeles to the carrier’s hub at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport (NRT), where travellers may connect onward to most major cities in Asia including Bangkok, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, and Taipei.

In addition to the JFK and LAX gateways, where JetBlue and JAL will launch their interline agreement, JAL also offers daily service from Chicago O’Hare to Tokyo Narita and from San Francisco to Tokyo Haneda Airport, much nearer the center of the vast city than is Narita.

At New York JFK, JetBlue offers connections between JAL-operated flights and cities up and down the United States East Coast including Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York; Charlotte and  Raleigh, North Carolina; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and cities throughout Florida. From Los Angeles, JetBlue offers connecting service to Boston, New York JFK and Fort Lauderdale.

JetBlue Airways unveiled this Airbus A320 in Boston Red Sox colors on February 10, 2012, saying the aircraft was the first officially to sport a Major League Baseball uniform

Japan Airlines plans to begin non-stop service between Tokyo Narita and Boston Logan International Airport this spring – the new route marking the commercial debut of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the U.S. market.

This will make Boston the third connecting point between JetBlue and JAL. The new service between Boston and Tokyo, operated by JAL and part of its transpacific joint business agreement with American Airlines, will be the only non-stop link from New England to Asia.

At Boston Logan International Airport, JetBlue is the largest airline and currently offers 100 daily flights to 44 cities throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean including Baltimore, Maryland; Buffalo/Niagara Falls, New York; Newark, New Jersey; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Washington, D.C. (Reagan National and Dulles International).

With a mid-day arrival and departure time, JAL’s new service to Boston is suitably timed for connections with JetBlue to and from destinations throughout the Northeast and Florida.