mrwunrfl

Found a one-way fare of $1600 from Japan to USA on Asiana Airlines. The roundtrip is around $2250. From various cities in Japan. I was holding a biz class award ticket on Asiana to Fukuoka (arriving Oct 26) and needed a way back. I decided on departing from Tokyo NRT (Nov 10) just because it would be an A380 to Seoul which I have never flown on.

Zip Air can beat that one-way fare by $600 (nonstop to/from LAX) but their "lie flat" seat is short (under 50 inches) and no changes are allowed. But that is a base fare and you pay extra for seat assignment, meal, etc etc. so the price gets closer to $1200 one-way (but it is non-stop 787 and it is better than premium economy if not up to a a full-serve international business class standard); No IFE

Asiana would charge 30,000 JPY to cancel and refund. It is a fab *A airline and their A350 lie-flat is 77 inches. Nice lounges to use at Seoul during the connection.

Examples:
roundtrip: Sendai and 5 more to Los Angeles | Google Flights
one-way: Sendai and 5 more to Los Angeles | Google Flights

This was worthy of a flytertalk Premium Fare Deals post (the fare has since increased for the dates in the roundtrip example in that post)
OZ - Japan-LAX - $2244 r/t, $1600 OW - Business - FlyerTalk Forums
They found similar fares to other USA cities. And slightly less expensive fares on Hawaiian.

jacketwatch

we've flown Asiana A380 biz using their new seats and I must say best flights we have ever been on.

They served Camus XO cognac too.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

mrwunrfl

Thanks, jacketwatch. My best flights ever were also on Asiana in first class on 747s. I only have the A380 from NRT to Seoul. I chose the A350 for the flight to LAX because bed length and seat width were larger than on the A380 according to seatguru (bed lenght of 77 inches vs 74.5 inches matters (to me) when you are 75 inches tall). It is the Business Smartium seat.

Got an email the other day about their new Business Suite Seat on the A380 to LAX. They are offering a special fare of $10,094.65 from LAX, a discount from $10,902.95. {one-way from Japan in that seat would be $3800 and roundtrip would be only about $6400 - on the same days/flights as in my OP)

In-Flight Service│ASIANA AIRLINES (flyasiana.com)

jacketwatch

Wow! Only around 10k. Yikes.

I am hoping to go to Singapore in February though not sure yet. There is a great deal now on JAL for biz ORD-SIN for just around $4600.00

Gardyloo

A 3-continent business class Oneworld Explorer round the world ticket (Asia, N. America, Europe) with travel starting in Japan has a base price of US$4540. That would allow up to 16 flight segments over the course of a year, including six in North America (which includes the Caribbean and Central America) and four each in Asia and Europe (which includes the Middle East and Mediterranean Africa.)

If you can get to Japan cheaply one-way (or use FF miles) you could tour Japan, then start the RTW by flying home (presumably to the US or Canada) and flying around North America using the same ticket (Alaska? Caribbean cruise? Yucatan or Costa Rica?) Then, later, it's off to Europe and/or the Middle East for some more travels, then finally back to Japan, maybe via the Maldives or Singapore or KL...always in the pointy end.

The same ticket with flights starting/ending in the USA has a base price of $10,426 and if starting/ending in Canada, US$7692. If you wanted start in Europe, the base price in Norway is $4857.

Sample route map (showing west-to-east, could be the opposite) -


Route details here.

Just a thought, anyway.

mrwunrfl

I see that on ita matrix. ORD->SIN on JL9, a 789 with 2x2x2 seating, layover at HND of 9h 20m or 20h 5m. The former as an HND departure shortly after midnight. The latter has nice times, arr HND around 2:45 PM and depart next day at 10:50 AM. ORD flights would be JAL Sky Suite Seats (JAL Business Class) - JAL International Flights

Coming back, either 0h 50m or 4h 45m stopover, 787 or 777 with 2x3x2 seating.

I would go for the 20h 50m layover or extend it a night or two for about $100 more. Japanese plum blossom season starts toward the end of Feb.

You are going to like JAL if you choose them.

jacketwatch

It’s a good route. I would like the long layover just to get some nice rest before the long journey home. An extension is worth considering too. On our only trip to Japan which was to cruise out of Yokohama we lost a day pre cruise stay due to weather delays causing us to miss our connecting in Toronto. I’d like to see the Ginza district and a baseball game or a sumo match

mjs

Gardyloo any good star alliance business round world deals? Want to go to Japan for two weeks around thanksgiving

Gardyloo

Bear in mind that what I'm talking about are RTWs that begin and end in Japan. The alliances (Oneworld and Star) price their RTWs very differently depending on the "country of origin," not the home country of the traveler. So in order to benefit from a "cheap" RTW price starting from Japan, you have to be in Japan physically to start the ticket.

That said, yes, Star Alliance business class RTWs starting and ending in Japan are also very well priced compared to other countries. Because the Star Alliance products are priced according to how many miles are flown in the course of the trip (with several tiers, ranging from 26,000 miles maximum up to 39,000) they're not strictly comparable to Oneworld's, which are based on how many continents are touched, irrespective of how many miles are flown.

Oneworld's cheapest business class RTW beginning in Japan, a 3-continent one, has a current base price (in US dollars) of $4540. That compares to $10,426 if starting in the USA. The lowest priced business class Star Alliance RTW ex-Japan, good for up to 29,000 flown miles, has a base price of $4880. Star's US comparable price is identical to Oneworld's. also $10,426. To go to the next tier in both cases (4 continents for Oneworld, 34,000 flown miles for Star) the price goes up by around $850 from Japan, and by $650 from the US.

The difference between the products, continent- vs. mileage-based, can be significant depending on where you want to go. For example, with a 3-continent Oneworld ticket it's very hard to include either Africa or Australia in the trip, because Oneworld doesn't have any nonstop flights between North or South America and Africa; you'd have to change planes in Europe or Asia to get there. But because the Star product doesn't discriminate based on continents, it's entirely possible to include both Africa and Australia in the "cheapest," i.e., 29,000 mile, tier, such as Tokyo > Newark > Johannesburg > Singapore > Sydney > Tokyo, at 28,857 miles. But that's it, just 5 flights out of 16 possible ones. The Oneworld 4-continent ticket would allow a far more extensive plan, with up to six flights within North America, four within Asia, Europe, or Australia/NZ, and so on.

What I typically advocate - and note I'm NOT such an evangelist that I think these products are for everyone - is to think about them as tools to implement something of a travel "master plan" that might include a year's or two years' plans. For example, you're planning a trip around Thanksgiving to Japan, presumably from your home someplace in the USA. Okay, but where are you planning to go next year? Because the RTW ticket is good for 12 months from the first flight, you could, depending on the mileage tier, use it for a spring or summer trip within North America, returning home for months, until it's time to head back to Japan via Europe and/or some other destination in Asia. See what I mean?

Yes, at some point within a year you'd have to end up back in Japan, from which you'd need to get home, unless you started another RTW and kept the ball rolling. One thing to note (and this tends to be more relevant to the Oneworld tickets because of the unlimited mileage factor) is that one business class RTW can generate a lot of frequent flyer miles, counting premium cabin bonuses and bonuses that come from elite status in your airline's frequent flyer program. So maybe you use some of those miles to fly home after an RTW trip, or to position yourself for the next, whatever.

I do hope this makes sense and is possibly helpful. Happy planning!

mjs

Thank you Gardyloo. Have been reading up on this a bit on Flyertalk and trying to figure how best to use this to travel and to earn enough PQP’s and PQF to keep my Star-alliance status. Flying on metal other than UA seems to be the way to go. Know of any websites or any TA’s that would be helpful?

Gardyloo

I'm a Oneworld person, but I did find this article on the Points Guy's website - How to earn United elite status faster with partner flights - The Points Guy - that seems useful. Basically for PQPs in business class you take the mileage flown on partner flights and divide by 5 for "preferred partners" and by 6 for other (non-preferred, I guess) partners, with a maximum of 1500 PQPs per flight. So for example, NRT-IAH (6643 mi) would earn 1329 PQPs. A 29,000 mi. CRWSTAR1 RTW ticket maxed out using partners would seem to give you a maximum of 5800 PQPs. Doesn't seem like complicated math.

mrwunrfl

The six Grand Sumo tournaments are during odd-numbered months. Tokyo, Osaka, Tokyo, Nagoya, Tokyo, Fukuoka.

Nihon Sumo Kyokai Official Grand Sumo Home Page

NPB 2023 schedule had:
[ Pre-Season Games ] Feb. 23 (tur) - Mar. 26 (sun)
[ Regular Season ] P.L. Opening Day : Mar. 30 (tur)

Nippon Professional Baseball Organization (npb.jp)

jacketwatch

Thanks for the tips.

We did see a baseball game the last time at venerable Jinku stadium.
if you are a baseball fan you must try to see a Japanese pro game if you are ever there.

I actually got our tickets before we left and they were deceived to our hotel and awaited us upon arrival.

The agent was related to Buzzy Bavasi who was high up in the LA Dodgers organization years ago.

He encouraged us to go to Jinku stadium as did someone we met at a local Japan fest we attended before we left.

Good advice!