mrwunrfl

The travelocity farewatcher has been showing air fares to Tokyo of $520 from Washington D.C. The ticket price comes out to be about $600 when you add in taxes and fees (varies slightly depending on connecting city).

That fare has been available on Northwest for the last two weeks or so. At the end of February, United matched that fare but only for two days.

American Airlines started offering the $520 fare two days ago and it is still available. It's for outbound travel Mon-Thu thru May.

SamH

Thats a great price, mrwunrfl. I did a quick check on www.iace-usa.com to confirm.
CO is offering RT for $510 and NW $509. Plus taxes of course. I didn't check the airline sites, but these are still very good fares.

mrwunrfl

I checked that site and see what you are referring to. I am holding out for that kind of fare on United, where I earn double miles, otherwise I will just use an award. That website is interesting, thanks, maybe I can use them for a hotel booking. I noticed that their home page needs updating because it is a bit misleading. It mentions domestic Japan fares for 24000 JPY (which you can get as Visit Japan fares from the airlines directly). Fine, but the page also, still, shows the 50% off of those fares that was offered two years ago for the World Cup.

BigFeat

Aren't there usually a lot of restrictions to these flights? I got a United fare for 2 from Ord to NRT for about $2400 and I thought that was a steal. With those kinda prices I should be able to fly to Asia more often in the future. Cheaper then my European flights. Are those direct flights by the way that take the Pacific route?

KimJapan

I think it's a good price! Going the other way, from Osaka to Boston via Detroit on NWA we pay around $800.00 US roundtrip high season, fare is upgradable with miles. There are cheaper fares, but can't be upgraded to business class so we don't buy them. Low season we can usually get it for about $600.00 rt.

Most tickets that you buy these days have restrictions and, of course, you should be careful to know exactly what they are. If you need to be able to change your ticket without a fee or risk of forfeit then a higher fare ticket or even full fare may be what you need, Most leisure travelers are well served by lower fares and more restrictions as once they set their dates they don't anticipate changing them. For emergencies, like illness or death, most airlines waive the restrictions.

mrwunrfl

The fares I mentioned are from D.C. and would be connecting flights (via ORD or elsewhere). The current fare for departures from ORD on American nonstop to Tokyo is $563. With taxes, it comes to $631. I can fly from D.C. to Chicago and connect to a flight to Tokyo for $30 less than just flying from Chicago.

BigFeat

I guess I've learned my lesson on scouting 'steals' on Asian fares. I gravely underestimated what a good intl flight to Asia should be. I called to book my flights without even checking UA's web fares first... Big mistake on my part. I shouldn't known better.

mrwunrfl

Ok, we may be able to get some of your money back. If a lower fare is found, United will refund the difference in travel vouchers. What are your dates of travel from ORD to NRT and back? Late May/early June, I know, but what dates exactly?

The fares that I mentioned above are gone today, but I am hoping they will come back. My hope is that United will have a fare sale on Tuesday, the 9th They had one in early March two years ago, if not last year. Last April 30, I saw fares from D.C. to NRT for $422 on American, with tax the ticket cost $500.40 for travel out by May 29 and return by June 5.

You ought to be able to get $200 back on each ticket.

SamH

A lot of the Tokyo flights from eastern US are thru Chicago, New York or Toronto. My son went last year - CLE-ORD-NRT. His flight was thru a group and we were obligated to a higher fare unfortunately.

BigFeat

I booked my flight for May 27th - Jun 6th. There were no specials at the time I booked it. I have a UA frequent flyer card.

mrwunrfl

Ok, today the total ticket price for those dates is $1068.22 at united.com on the nonstop flights 881/884 from/to ORD.

The $600 fares that I mentioned were at travelocity and from sidestep. On those days, the fares at united.com were similar to what is there today.

mrwunrfl

Today at travelocity, the fare for those dates on American is $656.30 for nonstops ORD-NRT-ORD.

I am/was looking to travel on May 27 and June 7, a Thursday and a Monday, because usually the lowest fares are for Mon-Thu. There is only a minor difference, today, between the 6th and 7th.

For your dates, on United, travelocity has $1028 and sidestep has $908 for connecting flights.

You can call United and find out what their policy is. For example, if you find a lower fare at travelocity, will they match it and/or make up the difference? I am pretty sure they would give you back the difference between your $1200 fare and today's united.com fare (about $130 per ticket). It's worth $260 to call them today and find out.

BigFeat

Thank you very much for all the info and help. I will follow-up with them tommorrow. That's all extra money I could use for the trip.

mrwunrfl

Have been checking these fares at least once a day. The cheapest fares disappeared on the weekend of March 13-14, but are back. The best price for BigFeat's trip remained at $1068 during that time.