highcommander

Greetings again,

I have only purchased 1 flight in my life. It was a flight from one US state to another. I opted for the cheapest option and had about 3 layovers. In the end I saved hundreds of dollars and was very happy my extra research paid off so well.

My question is about an international flight from the US (Maine) to Japan (Tokyo). Does anyone have some tips on saving money on such a flight? I have seen prices for August to be about 1,200 to 1,500 US dollars. My trip will be about 2 weeks long and will be in August of 2011. So I do have a lot of time to start looking. I notice that the closer you get to the day of the flight, the cheaper the tickets become. Is there a certain time frame I should aim for buying my tickets?

I was considering contacting a travel agency to see if there was any savings by booking at trip through them. Does anyone know if this will end up costing me the same or if there are savings possible there?

Also, I have seen that prices change DRAMATICALLY between airports. I have a good idea how i can save as much as $500 dollars a ticket by flying from an airport that is 4 hours from my home instead of one that is one hour. Is this the same in Japan? For example does flying to Tokyo end up saving or costing me more money?

And finally, I will be going with at least one other person, but maybe as many as 5 other people. Is there a way to use this to save money on my flight?

usernameistaken

Hi there! I live in Boston, have flown twice to Japan, and am constantly checking flights to Japan as I am always looking for an excuse to get back.

I have often considered flying from New York to save some money.

To give you an idea

In April 2008, I flew Boston-Chicago-Tokyo and back on American. The flights were "free" because we used FF miles but the actual cost was about $900.

In June 2009, we flew Bos-New York-Tokyo then Osaka-Tokyo-New York-Boston on American. We purchased our tickets in Feb 2009 for about $950 each. It was a good price but I asked a travel agent if the fares were likely to go down, and they said that the Japanese airlines set their fuel charges in March or April and to check back after that. Since $950 was a good fare, and we wearn miles on AA, we just took it. As the date grew closer, the ticket prices on the Asian airlines came down, and we might have been able to get tickets for as alittle as $800 for the same dates.

My Japanese friend relies exclusively on H.I.S.Boston to book her yearly summer trip to Japan. Here is the website
http://his-usa.com/en/cms/Cms.aspx?CG_ID=ne-en
She usually tries to get the cheapest tickets. This year, she is looking at $1200 to leave in June and return in August.

My understanding is that tickets can be more expensive in the summer because families visit at that time plus there is a special O-Bon festival at that time. Also, Tokyo is a gateway city for many many people who are travelling to other parts of Asia. So, on one hand there are many affordable seats but on the other hand the planes fill up fast.

The good thing about H.I.S. is that they seem to know when the fuel charges will be set and general trends. I am not sure you will necessarily save $$ through them but I do not know that for sure. I did not book my airline ticket through through but I did use them to buy my railpass because they were so very nice to me when I called them with my questions that I wanted to give them some business.

Jeff_Costa_Rica

I doubt there are many bargain fares out of airports in Maine. If it's not an incovenience for you to get to this airport four hours away and it will save you a lot of money, sure.

Japan is not like the U.S. where you have a ton of options for an arrival airport. Mostly, it's going to be Tokyo.

I'm not aware of any airline that offers volume discounts. A ticket is a ticket. A passenger is a passenger.

It's fun to look, but it's hard to say what will happen with schedules and fares 17 months from now, because no airline has them set this early. You have lots and lots of time. I'm not so familiar with flights to Asia that I know exactly when is a good time to buy a ticket. That part of the question I can't answer.

highcommander

Thank you both for the great advice. usernameistaken your advice about NY is exactly what I was wondering about. Although a drive down to Boston is doable, it may end up being too much of a hassle to go all the way to NY for a flight (goes from about a 3 hour drive to to 6 hour one, 12 hour round trip for the people dropping us off.) I will make sure to check out H.I.S to see what they have to offer!

Jeff_Costa_Rica what I meant to say (about the group discount) was not specifically for Airlines, but more of a question if perhaps travel agency might be the way to go for negotiating discount rates for multiple people. For example it seems that if I book through an agency with 4 people going we can get tickets for round trip PLUS 3 to 5 nights in a decent hotel for the same price as buying the air tickets right from the airlines.

All great advice so far for a first time traveler out of the country thanks again

Jeff_Costa_Rica

Okay, sure. A travel agent might know of air-hotel packages that would end up being cheaper than buying each separately. I see what you're saying.

I give you credit for making your very first international trip a trip to Japan. Most people don't do that. Good for you.

mrwunrfl

As far as alternate airports goes, I would look at MHT first (Manchester, NH) and then Boston, etc.