4 business class to Japan

[leseven]

Hi guys,

We're planning a family trip to Japan for October 2018 and will have enough points by then for 4 business class tickets. I've read that it's almost impossible to book multiple business class seats for flights to EU but is it the same for Japan?

Any tips & tricks on how I can achieve this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

I don't have enough QFF points to play around on the online booking website, but you can try it.
Log in and see.
2018 is still far out, and its about 330 days before QFF put reward seats info onto their website.
In fact, QF will not let you book revenue flights more than 330 days out, so wait till its a bit closer and then do a play around.
You might have to phone up QFF if you want to go further into the booking process.
>>>EDIT: test date, using 03 Jun 17, there are no J/subclass of J available rewards seats, I just logged in, and it let me get to the booking stage, didn't realise I could.
JL (JAL) also no seats.
Seems like only thing that is available is to get Y to HKG, and then J/subclass of J to NRT.
Plenty of seats in Y though.
Also, there are flights with JQ from Japan to OOL (Gold Coast), but then those flights from Japan to OOL are in Y.

 

[JaneFlyer]

It's a really popular route out of the east coast and so redemptions can be scarce. What is your QFF status?

 

[njba]

We had luck getting 2x tickets via Brisbane - booked about 6 months in advance. Given that QF flies to Japan from all three east coast capitals, it's certainly not impossible!

 

[leseven]

I tested a few searches for Oct/Nov this year but not much available. I'm bronze status unfortunately.

Given that the trip is still a fair way off, for now I guess I just wanted to get an idea on the chances of me getting 4 J seats for this trip. If it's too difficult or unlikely then I guess I will save the points for something else and just look out for cheap fares.

 

[Mattg]

You *may* be lucky enough to get 4x Business award seats on Japan Airlines' Sydney-Tokyo flight. You can't see these seats on Qantas' website though so you have to call Qantas to check availability and book.

 

[LadyC]

You can check JAL via British Airways Avios account. Need to call up Qantas to book though. You may also need to consider flying Cathay via HKG for more options.

 

[Daver6]

Or perhaps consider flying on different days or different routes in pairs.

 

[Himeno]

You *may* be lucky enough to get 4x Business award seats on Japan Airlines' Sydney-Tokyo flight. You can't see these seats on Qantas' website though so you have to call Qantas to check availability and book.

JL772 (SYD-NRT morning) is often quite full, as is QF25 (SYD-HND overnight). Almost every time I've looked at the SYD-TYO flights, they are close to (or have been) oversold due to Japanese school groups. Haven't looked at QF61 (BNE-NRT) or QF79 (MEL-NRT).

Another option is connecting via SIN. JL/QF codeshare on all flights between TYO and AU via SIN. JL have 3 daily flights to SIN, 2xHND, 1xNRT.

 

[grussellt]

If you're not a member of BA Executive Club you can have a look for JL awards via Awardnexus. JL J is a very nice way to travel - particularly if you like Japanese food (and Sake).

 

[Cool Cat Phil]

Or perhaps consider flying on different days or different routes in pairs.

This is the best advice I would give too.
Just a couple of days ago I managed to snare 2 x J Award seats on QF25/26 ( SYD > HND) return in November.

I then completed another dummy booking after the transaction to identify if any further J award seats exist on the same flight - which their was none.

I suspect 2 x J award seats on any particular day on the same flight number might be as good as one can get.
So splitting up into pairs are being prepared to travel via MEL or BNE may be your saving grace.

 

[theoracle30]

Just as a data point, I was able to secure 6x J tickets from Tokyo to Perth via HKG, on CX, about 8 months out. However for the NRT-HKG flight, we had to split into a group of 4 and a group of 2 on two different flights (but they are frequent). We were all together on HKG-PER. You can read about what experience you can expect on CX J here

 

[Matt_01]

Getting x4 J QF rewards is difficult on any flight. I did have a look and there were very limited options available using CX for x4 J and JQ x4 J. As for QF the best was x2 on QF61/62 or QF79/80 and only on certain days. I only looked Ex SYD.

Depending on your status, dates, departure/ arrival locations and your willingness to travel on separate planes you may be lucky. As this is a family trip in October, depending on your dates school holidays also come into play.


Good luck

 

[clazman]

CX flights out of Perth on reward are readily available every time I have checked

 

[amaroo]

2012 we got 4 x J return award tickets to Tokyo via Hong Kong on CX .... probably still the best bet these days.

 

[Himeno]

CX has 3 flights a day to NRT, a 4th 4 days a week, and another via TPE. JL has 1 flight HKG-NRT/day.
CX has 2 flights/day to HND and KA has 1 5 times/week. JL has 1 HKG-HND/day.
There is also one Jetstar Japan (GK) HKG-NRT.

CX might provide more options with ~10 flights/day from AU and 5-8 flights/day to TYO.

 

[leseven]

Thank you everyone for the tips.

I have done a few more test searches on Qantas site and can see seats via CX this Oct/Nov. though more points are required. I've also created a BA executive club account to try and find JAL availability but it seems very limited.

What about MH via KUL, is that an option? I didn't see any availability coming up for MH on both Qantas and BA sites.

 

[Mattg]

Thank you everyone for the tips.

I have done a few more test searches on Qantas site and can see seats via CX this Oct/Nov. though more points are required. I've also created a BA executive club account to try and find JAL availability but it seems very limited.

What about MH via KUL, is that an option? I didn't see any availability coming up for MH on both Qantas and BA sites.

Yes, Malaysia Airlines is another option worth looking at. They generally only release 2x J seats per flight, but if you're prepared to split into 2 groups of 2 you should be able to get seats. The number of points would be roughly the same as with Cathay, with taxes/fuel surcharges marginally higher.

You can't find MH availability on the Qantas website, but you should be able to see it on the BA site.