Flying to Japan
 

My husband and I are planning a trip to Tokyo in September and I am wondering if anyone can give me information on airlines. Which is the best or which one to be sure to avoid?

Nobody can give you any useful info without knowing your departure city.

I'd advise you to avoid Japan Airlines(JAL) if you are flying economy. The seats are really small even though I'm only 5'7" and 145 lbs. The food are tasteless, except those japanese snacks that they continually hand out through the flight. The worst is their entertainment. The selections of (old) movies and songs are very limited, and aren't on demand. You can't pause the movie, and can't choose the song to listen to.

I would take either Japan Air or ANA rather than any of the american carriers. But your departure city makes a big difference and also whether you are flying economy, business or first.

We live in Kansas City and are going to be flying economy most likely. The flights we have seen are flying us either to Chicago or LA to then fly on to Tokyo.

Try ANA

Do you have elite status on any airline? Which frequent flier programs to you belong to? That's a long flight and frequent flier miles can be an important consideration.

Hey janessa we live in kansas city also, and have flown to japan a few times out of mci. we have status on american so we fly them when we go. you can check on seatguru.com and find the best seats in the plane. i know that even in economy there are seats that are not that bad. since you are going in the late summer its good to take the american flight out of ord instead of dfw. you can also check farecompare.com to see what prices they have. Jeffrey

sorry to double post. i just checked farecompare and in sept they are showing $820++ from mci.

Try GATEWAY LAX gatewaylax.com to check out rates of different airlines. I always check them before calling the airlines themselves.
If you're after service during this LONG flight, I suggest you take any Asian airline. They do a better job at taking care of you & the food is a whole lot better than US airlines. We usually pay extra just to fly them.
Hope this helps.

I was really happy with our AA flight out of Chicago. They use a 777, which is huge. I took the 2 seats on the aisle in the middle section - nobody was next to me - which is what I was hoping. They have the video screens in the back of the seat in front of you.
Also, possibly because most of the flyers were Japanese, everyone was very polite and NOBODY put their seat all the way back.

My husband and I flew business class and my granddaughter flew regular economy class on ANA Just a few weeks ago.Business class was superb and my granddaughter,17, seemed to be very comfortable in economy.THe crew was very professional ,the aircraft was kept spotlessly clean and the food was really good in both classes of service. highly recommended.

In general, the Asian airlines offer superior service with friendly flight attendants. I always try to fly with an Asian airline like ANA, JAL, Singapore, Cathay or EVA when I can. Your options may be limited, so going via LAX, SFO or ORD is your best bet.

I also agree 777's are the way to go if you care about inflight entertainment. Dedicated seatback screens with ondemand programming.