Business class fares for USA to/from Japan dropped by about $900 in the last two days. This is for fall travel and beyond. Fares below are from LAX or SFO, but you could find comparable fares from elsewhere.

I have been looking daily for one-way fares from LAX to Japan for travel at the end of October. I bought a one-way from Osaka to LAX in November months ago for $1500 in business class on Asiana and have been sitting on a PE award ticket to get to Japan.

Business class fares are now $2928 to Japan on American/JAL or United/ANA or Delta. Tickets can be purchased from either partner airline for the most part. That is for LAX or SFO

For example, five days ago the fare on the JAL A351 LAX to Tokyo was nice at $3800 plus $400 if you wanted refundable ($4168) if booked at least 50 days in advance. Yesterday, the fare dropped to $2900, but the refundable price is still $4168. The A351 is a suite.

Yesterday or day before the United/ANA fares also dropped to $2900 plus $400 if you wanted to make it fully refundable. This is for nonstops or connecting flights that include NH7 the ANA flight SFO-NRT which has a suite called "The Room".

Am virtually certain that cancelling the trip (if not refundable) gets you a credit with the airline, so preferrable to book on a USA carrier website (book on United for an ANA flight, for example).

Compare those fares to Zipair $1858 (LAX-NRT). That is a no-frills, use it or lose it. fare. Pay more to be able to cancel for a credit. No entertainment. Pay more to choose seats, buy food, etc. No lounge.

(the return fare from Japan can be had for $1800 on Asiana in November, or only $2250 on Singapore nonstop rerundable for 20000 yen fee about $140)

Took a look in March and see a Singapore Airlines fare of $2000 for Tokyo to LAX. That is a fab biz class. The Zipair fare for that day is $1550.

You had my hopes up! Unfortunately or my dates late October to early November still about $4600

That would be a good price for a roundtrip.

I think you prefer *A and your home airport is SMF, so I added that and SFO to my search.

Found $1681 for HND->SMF and SFO->KIX for $2300 (up to $2900 for TYO or SMF) on GF.

Use the Price Graph to check on other dates.

Osaka and 6 more to Sacramento and 1 more | Google Flights

Sacramento and 2 more to Osaka and 6 more | Google Flights

An AA award in JAL F popped up today for ORD->TYO on Oct 26 for 80K miles (the minimum price). To get that I would have to take a redeye from LAX on the 25th. It is not the A351.

Here are some links to the best business class seats on ANA and JAL.

The Room on ANA 77W:
Seat Details for B777-300ER Business Class | Cabin | In-Flight | Travel Information | ANA

The suite on JAL A351
JAL international Business Class Seats (A350-1000)

>> Found $1681 for HND->SMF

Not there anymore on GF, so I went to United.com and I see it there. Only $1685 for HND/NRT to SMF.

The calendar shows that fare is available on weekdays in Oct and Nov.

The SFO fares are $3500.

This is probably yet another of my (likely useless) ruminations on RTW or similar fares, but a couple of data points:

1. Because of the Canadian dollar's struggles against the USD, a couple of RTW or related fares for trips beginning in Canada have emerged. One is a "Circle Pacific" fare in business class with Oneworld that allows up to 22,000 flown miles with a base price (in USD) of $5885, compared to the same fare if originating in the USA of $9997. A "circle Pacific" fare requires one to fly across the North Pacific (say, Japan, China, Korea, etc.) in one direction and across the South Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, Fiji etc.) in the other. The fare allows a trip that begins in Canada to end in the USA, so all one would need if home is in the USA would be a one-way ticket to Vancouver or someplace else in Canada.

The tickets are good for a year and allow up to 16 segments, so if you're creative you could visit several places and stay within the mileage limit. For example, here's an imaginary map showing a Circle trip that goes from Vancouver to Tokyo, up to Sapporo, down to Hong Kong, then Sydney, a short visit to Lord Howe Island (look it up) then back to Auckland, Fiji and ending in Los Angeles. This comes to around 21,500 miles, just under the wire.



2. The second option as a "true" RTW, but one that uses Star Alliance carriers (ANA, Singapore, United, Lufthansa etc.) with a maximum of 29,000 flown miles, but starting and ending in Japan. As I've mentioned in other threads covering my peculiar obsession, RTW and similar products carry different prices depending on the country of origin (evidence above) and for the time being, Japan is favorably priced for both Oneworld and Star Alliance RTW tickets in business class.

In this case, the Star 29K mile product carries a base price of $4797. RTWs require one to cross both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the same direction. Again, the tickets are good for a year and allow up to 16 flights and 15 stopovers.

With 29,000 miles you could start in Japan, visit Australia and New Zealand, then home to the US for what could be months, then cross the Atlantic to Europe, maybe stop in Singapore, and end up back in Japan.



Or, you could start in Japan, head home, then visit, say, Scotland, Germany and South Africa before ending back in Japan, again, using less than the allowed 29,000 miles.



The comparable Oneworld RTW fare for this route would be around $6900, so some terrific savings by using the Star product. You'd be able to use ANA's excellent business class products, or United's Polaris suites, or Singapore's business class, not too shabby.

So I thought I'd throw these ideas out - maybe not of any interest, but maybe it might be.

>> In this case, the Star 29K mile product carries a base price of $4797

Gardyloo, thanks. That looks like a great price for a lot of flying. I love a bargain. I will give my thinking about why it probably wouldn't work for me. Am sure you are aware of the issues as the RTW ticket is not for everyone.

Am supposing you compared that price to the US-Japan fares I posted about above. Fares of $2900 to Japan are pretty good and $1600 from Japan would be great. That would be $4500 roundtrip from LAX.

The issue with those RTW tix is the starting/ending points. Getting from LAX to YVR would be easy enough but starting the RTW ticket in Japan pretty much doubles the cost to about $9300. Am just not going to fly to TYO in economy or pay $300 to TP to get to Oslo. I think PE to and from Tokyo would be about $2400. Add on the RTW ticket and that is $7200. The other thing about the positioning flights is the time. To some extent it would be 22+ hours.of work to save money.

Thanks Gardyloo. I always find your posts on RTW tickets to be of great interest. Should have done the CDG RTW for E2735 a few years ago. I still work while my wife just retired. We have been doing three 2 week international trips a year. Would certainly take advantage of the RTW business class fares when I retire. This year has us looking late October to someplace like Japan or New Zealand or maybe Egypt. Next year has us going to the Galapagos for one trip. Another trip will be to Patagonia as one of my monthly poker group friends just built a home down there and we will be heading there for a long poker/hiking/fishing trip. My wife also wants to do an extended family trip somewhere to celebrate her retirement but we do not know where. (Dordogne?) Hard to see how to fit in a RTW ticket within these parameters. We also tend to stick with Star alliance as we are Gold. 2027 will be another matter and hopefully there will be a good business class airfare like one of your examples for us to use. I did just see UA $1685 TYO-SMF courtesy of mrwunrfl.

Out of curiosity, what happens if you book a RTW ticket and do not use the last flight or two?

I fully understand. There's no point in turning yourself into a pretzel to save a couple hundred bucks.

If, however, you're inclined to do multi-year plans that involve global travel, sometimes you can amortize a one-time positioning flight over a couple of years if you get into a "rinse and repeat" cycle. Especially with Oneworld RTWs that have no mileage limit, you can use an RTW ticket for pretty much a year's flying, domestic and abroad. Say you start in Japan, using cash or miles for a one-time positioning flight. You travel eastbound (maybe after a stop in someplace like Australia or someplace in Asia) to home. You use the ticket for work or pleasure flying around North America, then it's over the Atlantic, visit Europe or maybe Africa, before ending back in Japan.

Then instead of flying home on a revenue ticket, you start another RTW - maybe this one east-to-west, stopping in Asia or Europe (or Africa) before crossing the Atlantic. If you want to use the ticket for South America, you can do that, stopping (a second time) in North America before crossing the Pacific, back to Japan. You'll have earned enough miles to fly home, or of course you could start all over again. At some point your bucket list might expire, but the original positioning cost has been spread out over a couple of years. Hope that makes sense.

Same idea as above. Say you fly to Norway. (Star Alliance RTWs aren't as cheap beginning in Norway as Oneworld's are, but the access cost would be cheaper than positioning in Japan as per above.) From Norway you fly to Japan (probably via Germany) for your autumn trip in Japan. Then you fly home to California and resume your lives.

When it's time to visit the Galapagos, you fly down to Ecuador (via Houston) then back to California, resume life. Finally, before the year's up, you fly to France for your Dordogne trip, then it's back to Norway. That trip comes into around 27,000 miles, within the 29,000-mile tier for Star RTWs. Maybe you start another one, this time heading back across the Atlantic to California. When the time's right, you use the ticket to get down to, say, New Zealand, then back to Europe via, maybe, Singapore. Same story - fits comfortably in the 29,000 mile limit.

Now it's not cheap, but it's undoubtedly cheaper than individual round trips would cost to Japan or France or Ecuador or New Zealand. Basically it's two years' travel in the pointy end for what probably would be the cost of one of those years with conventional tickets. (Full disclosure: I haven't done the itemized tally, I'm just guessing. But it's an educated guess.)

End of sermon. In my view this kind of "strategic" travel planning is useful, not to mention fun.

The airlines allegedly have the option of coming after you for the point-to-point fares instead of the RTW cost, which would be horrendous. However, I've never heard of them doing it, including the two occasions that I was myself a scofflaw.

I take it that Japan is one of the least expensive places to start a RTW star alliance ticket in Asia and Norway for Europe? Do you then put Japan or Norway as country of residence if you want to start your trip in those countries?

No. Your country of residence doesn't matter. The price is based on where the trip begins and ends.

Looks like I am either going to use 100K miles each for one way to KIX or TYO and back unless I can upgrade with miles plus cash. Looking at SFO 11/27 and returning on the 9th.

FWIW it would be $4602 roundtrip at United and you could get The Room suites on NH7 and/or NH8:

San Francisco SFO to Tokyo NRT

Thursday, November 27 11:00 AM to 3:20 PM Nonstop
Please note this flight involves a date change
Duration: 11h 20m
Flight Number: UA 7949
Aircraft type: Boeing 777-300ER
Operated by All Nippon Airways (NH7)

Tokyo NRT to San Francisco SFO

Tuesday, December 9 5:00 PM to 9:15 AM Nonstop
Duration: 9h 15m
Flight Number: UA 7950 ​​​​​​
Aircraft type: Boeing 777-300ER
Operated by All Nippon Airways (NH8)

But if I had 200K miles to spend per person for the roundtrip then I would do that. Or Money&Miles outbound to get on NH7 and then Miles for the return on UA metal.

At that time of year go see the ginko trees etc here: Showa Memorial Park (Showa Kinen Koen) - Tokyo Travel

Is TYO also the best place to start a Circle pacific ticket on Star Alliance. Seems like this would be less expensive than a RTW ticket

Assuming you're looking at business class, surprisingly, the RTW fare is around US$65 cheaper than the basic Circle Pacific fare. Go figure.

The RTW tickets are good for one year but schedules seem not to be published that far in advance since I am booking well before I start flying. How to you complete the round trip booking?

Date changes are free, so when you book you use "dummy" dates that ARE open, then change them to actual dates when they come available. Done all the time.

Great good to know. Star Alliance RTW site not the easiest to use. Playing with different dates as business fares not always available is time consuming. One effort has us flying NRT-AKL- ZQN for 10 days then ZQN-AKl-SFO in Late November. All business except between ZQN and AKl. Late February SFO-IAH-SCl for a week then SCL-IAH-BOS. All business. Fly home to SMF from Boston. In late May fly to Boston then fly to CDG via IAD all business. Fly back home in a-week or so on my own to SMF. In the fall fly to CDG for a few days then ANA or LH to TYO for 10 days the fly myself home from TYO. Occasionally I see Asiana business class NRT to SFO for about $1600.
Do have to start by flying myself to TYO. ANA has a midnight flight from SFO I like to use as it allows me to work a full day the leave in the evening which extends my holiday a bit. Or I can use miles on UA to upgrade or use 100K miles for a one way trip.
I am thinking now however that I should try flying back to SMF from ZQN and also try to fly from SMF to SCL. Also wonder if I can fly from SCL to DEN or IAH instead of flying to the east coast. Technically both DEN and IAH are westward from SCL while the east coast cities are eastward of SCL. Would make it easier to get home to SMF. Total cost about $7400 not including SFO to Japan to start the RTW, Flight back home to SMF from Boston, Flight SMF to CDG and final flight home from TYO to California.
Any insights Gardyloo?

Using the great circle mapper to find the longitudes of airports finds that BOS is west of SCL. Bangor is east!
Great Circle Mapper

I checked on Miami because I really would not want to fly to Bangor in the winter. I would not mind Boston because I could visit some family. Might have to send my winter coat ahead of me, though.

But, assuming Boston works:

two nights in Boston $400 (to stay a night after flight from SCL and the night before flight to CDG)
roundtrip from BOS would be $400 in economy or $1500 in F on United
one-way SFO-CDG good luck finding this for less than $2500 in C
TYO to home $1500

So add about $5000 to the total cost.

I forgot to add the initial flight to Tokyo. Would be $1900 on ZIPAIR at this point. Or $2900 on UA/NH. Or the miles.

You would be able to visit Santiago, Boston twice, Paris twice, and Tokyo twice in four roundtrips.
Trip 1: Tokyo
Trip 2, Santiago and Boston
Trip 3: Boston and Paris
Trip 4: Paris and Tokyo

Something like this: Great Circle Mapper

Don't get hung up on the "eastward-westward" issue. This is a commonly misunderstood rule. You can backtrack and zigzag freely within given continents. The east/west rule applies to things called "tariff conference" regions, of which there are three. TC1 is the Americas including the Caribbean; TC2 is Europe and Africa, including part of the Middle East, and TC3 comprises Asia and the Pacific. The RTW rules are that you have to progress between the TC regions in the same direction. WITHIN those regions you can double back and zigzag. Of course, with the Star Alliance RTW products, you have to keep an eye on the miles flown, or else the zigzags might result in having to bump up to the next mileage tier, costing more.

For example, the basic route you laid out, Japan to NZ to California to Chile, back to California then ultimately to Paris and Tokyo, comes in at just under 38,000 flown miles. That would put you into the top tier of allowed mileage with the Star Alliance RTW (39,000 max) and would change the base fare from US$4785 to $6504.


I'd probably look at possible alternatives to your schedule to see if you could combine the South American and European portions into one trip. For example, if you flew from Chile to Europe, then broke the RTW there for the return to SMF and/or Boston, you'd reduce the total flown mileage to the sub-34,000-mile tier, which would save quite a lot in the RTW cost.


On this map, you'd go from SCL to Sao Paulo (Turkish Airlines "fifth freedom" flight) then to Lisbon on TAP Portuguese. Break the trip there (TAP can have very reasonable fares) and return to the US, then when it's time to return to Europe, fly to Lisbon then Paris, then end up back in Japan.

The base price for a CRWSTAR2 (34,000 miles max.) is $5575, so almost a thousand bucks cheaper than the 39K miles tier.)

But keep working on it - you're making progress.