Good fare for US west coast to Japan?

Old Aug 11th, 2017, 05:37 PM
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Good fare for US west coast to Japan?

What's a good airfare (for June-July) from anywhere on the west coast to pretty much anywhere in Japan? We'll be starting in Denver but can get to the west coast pretty easily on Southwest. I've found fares on ANA for LAX-NRT for about $1000 per person, which is less than from any other city. Is that a really good deal? Or pretty standard? Trying to decide if I should buy now for next summer, or if I can wait.
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Old Aug 11th, 2017, 05:50 PM
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That is not a good fare. It is way too soon. You should wait.

A good fare for LAX-NRT would be $600, but I have seen them for under $500 (two years ago).
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Old Aug 11th, 2017, 06:34 PM
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$500 - $600 roundtrip LAX-NRT-LAX?
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Old Aug 11th, 2017, 06:35 PM
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Sorry, I should've specified that I was talking about round trip.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 02:31 AM
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I'm in Japan at present. Although I didn't fly here in June/July, I flew at the very beginning of August, and out of LAX as I live in L.A. area. I flew Singapore Air, round trip, for a little over $1,100,total, but in Premium Economy class. This was LAX to Narita. I waited for Singapore Air to e-mail me with their sales. I bought the ticket on April 30th, or close to that date, according to when I printed my ticket itinerary and flew out on Aug 03rd. But, from what I remember, Singapore Air had e-mailed me a good month before I bought the ticket.

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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 02:34 AM
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I just found the exact amount here on my print out. It was $1060.00 plus the tax of $86.01 for a total of $1,146.01.

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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 05:08 AM
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Thanks! Stupid question time: how do you sign up for emails about sales? I checked their website and didn't see it. Do you have to be a member of their frequent flyer program?
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 05:50 AM
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More questions...
Which airlines should I be watching?
Is LAX always the cheapest departure city, or should I watch other west coast cities as well?
My dilemma is that I don't want to wait too long to book flights, because I'd really like to fly on Saturdays (mid-June to early July), and I also need to book flights on Southwest for DEN-LAX-DEN (which tend to sell out, and probably only 1 or 2 flights will work for the connection times). If I'm pretty sure the best deals will be out of LAX, I could go ahead and book flights on SW (if I book with points I can possibly change them).
If you're wondering why I'm looking at west coast flights when we'll be starting in Denver, it's because as far as I can tell the only non-stop from Denver is United, and for all the dates I've ever checked, round trip tickets are $2000 each. Three of us are travelling so that's enough to make me look for cheaper options.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 07:04 AM
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LAX appears to be always the cheapest fare. I monitored all of the major hubs for about 2 months. Although if you count HNL as "west coast"- that's cheaper, and I could have saved about $250 if I'd done that, but I didn't think it was worth the extra flight time. But I would have made up for it in hotels so not really.

My ANA ticket was $900 round trip; that was high season; the flight had been $800 the week before, so I think around $700 would be the sweet spot. Air china/ China eastern- I've seen them at $500, but the flights are awful layover wise and reviews made me nervous. I chose ana because the legroom in economy was better than other airline economy.

Is lax or Vegas cheaper to reach from Denver? Because Vegas flights are popping up about the same.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 09:50 AM
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>>$500 - $600 roundtrip LAX-NRT-LAX?

Yes, I meant roundtrip.

It is TOO SOON. You can't even book your Southwest flights yet.

Your trip will not be peak season. It is rainy season. Those $500 fares were during April, though, maybe summer.

Besides LAX, you could also look at SFO and maybe Seattle.

But, you should first look for flights from Denver! That is what you really want. The fare from DEN to NRT via LAX could be the same, or even LESS, than LAX-NRT.

That United nonstop fare is going to come down. If you are willing to pay $1000 now from LAX, then just wait and buy that nonstop trip if/when it drops below $1000.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 10:06 AM
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You should add Vancouver, YVR, for your options for Denver, but look for Denver first.

>>Those $500 fares were during April, though, maybe summer.

I forgot to mention that those fares were on ANA nonstops LAX-NRT-LAX, roundtrip.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 10:55 AM
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Thanks! I know I can't buy SW tickets now, and I'm also checking for fares from Denver. There are just so many more options from the west coast, so I'm guessing that's how I'll get the best deal. If the nonstop from Denver is $1000 before I've bought other tickets, I'll jump on that! I hadn't thought about Las Vegas. Thanks for that tip!
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 12:14 PM
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https://www.google.com/flights will plot graphs, compare cities, and track prices for you.

Incidentally, June and July is about the worst time to go to Japan: it will be hot and humid and wet.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 02:55 PM
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The flights out of SFO used to be similar in price to LAX but they have been much higher over the last year or so for reasons that escape me. Early June is not that bad of a time to go to Japan but I would avoid July and August and the rainy season usually starts around the second week of June.
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Old Aug 12th, 2017, 04:48 PM
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We can only go for 3 weeks June-August because of school. It sounds like August is the worst of the 3 months weather-wise, so that's why I'm looking at June-July. If highs are around 85 and there's high humidity, I think we can handle that.
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Old Aug 13th, 2017, 06:11 AM
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Umbrellas are inexpensive in Japan.
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Old Aug 14th, 2017, 03:49 AM
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I don't know why you are thinking about making a west coast connection when you could fly right from Denver to Tokyo. We live in MSP and this winter booked a flight to Myanmar where we flew to Denver and then directly to Tokyo on United.

I'd keep my eye open for flights from Denver. It is a lot less hassle than worrying about making that connection or what will happen if one plane is late because it will all be on you if you have booked a couple separate itineraries. And, if you do fly United direct to Tokyo, Premium Economy is worth the upgrade.

By the way, our flights MSP to Myanmar with a return Kuala Lumpur to MSP were about $850 each.

My son swears by a $25 annual subscription to Thrifty Traveler. They got seats roundtrip on non-stop flights MSP to Amsterdam for Christmas time this coming winter for either $400 or $450. They only had a couple hour timeframe to book after getting their notification from Thrifty Traveler, but he definitely thinks it is worth the $25.

https://www.thriftytraveler.com/premium/
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 01:00 AM
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"Tally on Aug 12, 17 at 10:08pm
Thanks! Stupid question time: how do you sign up for emails about sales? I checked their website and didn't see it. Do you have to be a member of their frequent flyer program?"

I don't remember how I got on Singapore Air's mailing list. I've been flying them for 19 years, but only got a frequent flyer number some years ago. From what I remember, I got e-mails from them before I had a frequent flyer number. So, maybe I just contacted them to be added to their mailing list.

I forgot to mention above that the airfare that I paid was also good for part of July, I think it was, although I left at the very beginning of August and am still in Japan.

Happy Travels!
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 01:15 AM
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"Tally on Aug 13, 17 at 9:48am
We can only go for 3 weeks June-August because of school. It sounds like August is the worst of the 3 months weather-wise, so that's why I'm looking at June-July. If highs are around 85 and there's high humidity, I think we can handle that."

I am here and it's August and I'm not that heat sensitive. I'm fine with August and next summer hope to come back again and in August. As for rain, I was 9 days in Kyoto and the weather, overall, was gorgeous 98% of the time. One day a typhoon came in and dumped a lot of rain and wind, but other than that, I was fine with the weather although hot. Plus, it was great to be outside in bright, sunny weather and folks outside in festive moods.

I'm now in Tokyo as I arrived on Sunday, from Kyoto, and the weather was basically fine until today when it changed while I was out and walking in Ginza. It suddenly started raining, so instead of walking the 30 minutes back to my hotel, from where I was in Ginza, I jumped into a taxi and it took about 7 minutes to get back to my hotel. Plus taxi meters, in Tokyo start at only 410 yen whereas they start at 590 yen in Kyoto.

Also yesterday, it started raining, but was very short lived. It cleared up pretty fast and out I went and the rest of the day and evening, it was fine.

Personally, I saved a bundle on hotels by going in August as, out of curiosity, I had checked prices for other months.

Happy Travels!
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Old Aug 15th, 2017, 09:09 AM
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Regarding summer weather, it sounds like we pick from either rainy and hot in June-July, or hot and hot in August. Is that an accurate statement? How rainy is it from mid-June to mid-July? Like, often drizzling, or often pouring so hard you really can't be out and enjoy yourself (even with an umbrella)? If it just rains some and overall isn't crazy, wouldn't it be better to go mid-June to mid-July and have some rain and not as hot? Or is it better to avoid the rainy season and go late July - August, but know that it will be hotter?

I live in Colorado now but I'm from Texas, so hot isn't that bad to me. We'll wear shorts, drink lots of water, step into the shade or into a/c now and then. I assume accommodations, trains, most shops and restaurants have a/c.

If Japan's school holidays are mid-July - August, is it better to avoid that period?

I don't have an itinerary plan yet, but I'm thinking Tokyo and Kyoto (and surrounding areas), some mountains, maybe beach.
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