jayne

I have never been to Japan, so I was wondering how many hours in the airplane does it take to go from SFO to Tokyo, and which is the most comfortable airline to fly on?

greg

For the time part, you need to find out yourself by going to a reservation site such as www.expedia.com, plug in destination and dates. It is roughly 10 hrs for direct flights, BUT varies by more than one hour in mostly longer direction depending on the time of the year and the direction of the travel due to the jet stream condition. The differences are generally more pronounced in winter than in summer.<BR><BR>Regarding comfort, there are so many variables even within the airline; the plane model, the location of the seat, and of course the class you are travelling.

Bill

<BR>Hi Jayne,<BR><BR>I've flown from IAD to Tokyo on All Nippon Airways (nonstop) and on United (returning from PEK, connecting in ORD). I travelled coach.<BR><BR>The ANA flights were 777s and so, I am pretty sure, was the outbound UA flight. The PEK-ORD on UA was probably a 777, maybe a 747. Both were similarly comfortable, with the UA flights having a slight advantage. <BR><BR>UA and ANA both had the little video screen in the seatback in front showing the flight map info (I loved this more than the movies). The ANA flight had a video game controller in the armrest. A choice of games (I played Craps, good thing it wasn't for real $). I don't think the UA flight had the game controller.<BR><BR>Flying a Japanese carrier has the benefit of having a higher proportion of fellow passengers who are Japanese. Not knocking Americans, it's just that you Japan trip will start, to a slight extent, when you get on the plane in SFO.<BR><BR>The choice, for me, would be based on frequent flyer miles. You can earn miles for your United Mileage Plus account using UA or ANA. I was bummed to learn, though, that I only got credited 70% of the ANA flight miles. <BR><BR>United currently has a double miles offer, so if I was going to be purchasing my ticket by Jan 24, I would fly UA. NOTE: you have to register for the offer, you don't get the double miles automatically.<BR><BR>The next time I go, I might use those carriers, but I might choose AA or JAL since I could build up the balance in my AAdvantage account.<BR><BR>

david

I have flown 4 times from SJC-NRT (very similar to SFO-NRT) usually takes 10-10.5 hours. Every time I flew this route I was in First Class, so I was very comfortable.!

Ericka

Jayne,<BR>If you have to fly coach, the airline you choose will only slightly dictate your comfort level. But the best thing you can do for yourself is try to get a business class or first class ticket on ANY airline. Either way, make sure you are very proactive in your seat assignments. Make sure you (and your traveling companion?) get two seats off to the side of the plane - by yourselves.

Jayne

Thanks for the advice. I am envious of those flying first class. <BR>My organization will only pay for coach, so it looks like a long flight for me. <BR>Thanks for the double mile information on UA, it will help me get one step closer to that first class comfort that I am always hearing about but have yet to experience.