Flights to Tokyo - Advice

[Trampel]

Hi All,

Not sure where to post this so thought I'll start here...

Am looking at taking the family to Japan in Jan 2016 (BNE-TYO) for some snow as well as sightseeing. So far we have our snow accommodation booked from 9 - 16 Jan, next step is to book flights. We're looking at about a 2 week trip just have to be back before school starts.

I'd like to find the cheapest option but also the shortest travel time, given we have young kids. Also have our own snow gear so will need luggage included.

I have a Flight Center voucher and 150k QFF I can use as well.

Am I better off just going straight to FC, or book online and use the voucher for something else?

Thanks in advance for reading this far..

 

[Ausbt]

Where are you skiing at though? On Honshu or Hokkaido? Going to presume Honshu because you have listed Tokyo as your choice. Regardless provide some info about your chosen resort as I'm familiar with a few of them. Tokyo has two airports, Narita (NRT) and Haneda (HND). The choice affects the ease of transiting through to Sapporo (CTS) for the powder-and-bogan wonderland of Niseko etc or choosing a train to get to Honshu's resorts.

Last Feb I did SYD-NRT with Qantas, (points upgrade to J outbound and PE inbound), Keisei Skyliner to Ueno and then Shinkansen bullet-trains to link with buses to Nozawa Onsen and later Hakuba. Interestingly no snow injuries however I really hurt my arm carrying my 25kg ski roller bag up-and-down stairs of all the train stations I used. Took a few months to get over that, actually.

Regardless, Japan is a skier's paradise and certainly my first holiday choice by a long way ...I'd go every year if I could.

 

[Trampel]

Hi Ausbt,

Thanks for the response. We're heading over to Hakuba, almost as excited as the kids to ride the Shinkansen! We don't have to transit straight through to the resort on the day of arrival, would prefer to break up the trip a bit maybe a few days in Tokyo before and after the snow.

Really looking forward to it, have only ever heard good things re the snow.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I wouldn't go racing off to FC until you have checked direct on the airline websites first.

How much is the FC voucher worth? You could always use it to purchase accommodation in Tokyo before or after skiing however FC will only book accommodation out of their brochures where they will get instant commission so it's all about them, not you.

A lot of the time you will find what you want on sites like Expedia or Air bnb that will be more suited to the needs of your family eg 2bedroom apartment.

QF now fly non-stop BNE/NRT/BNE daily and there have been some good specials lately. JQ still fly ex OOL to NRT which may be an option also.

 

[Trampel]

Thanks Ozbeachbabe,

No problem flying JQ from OOL but by the time I've added on luggage it's not much cheaper than flying from BNE.

The voucher is for $500 so not a deal breaker but would prefer to use it, might look into buy the Disney tickets from them?

 

[yohy?!]

if strictly looking at flights then QF will be the only direct service Brisbane to Narita at that time

 

[Ausbt]

You are in for an awesome trip. If you transit through Ueno train station (Narita's Keisei Skyliner arrives there to connect with the Shinkansen Bullet Train), check out the zoo. Seriously only AUD$6 to get in, and when I was there the pandas were feeding. There is an amazing Hokkaido brown-bear and a bunch of other stuff, the kids will love it. Ueno's not a bad place to stay, plenty of family-friendly restaurants around there. Shinjuku is another good choice, and I'd recommend a visit to a Cat Café, Calico is a good choice Cat Cafe Calico Shinjuku (Japan): Address, Phone Number, Game & Entertainment Center Reviews - TripAdvisor . If near Shinjuki also to the 45th floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Building for the free observation tower and possible views of Mt Fuji. If you prefer something more traditional, Asakusa is great. Close to Sensoji temple and the Skytree (go early to this if you are going as queues are epic). Also the Don Quijote department store at Asakusa is a must-do, just a little bit bizarre.

Anyway back a little more OT re: flights. I'm not seeing any particularly good deals with Jetstar around that time, but at least they are cheaper than Q. I've generally paid $1K Y return in the past, when not using points. Can't speak for JAL. Can you travel out of OOL? Jetstar fly the Dreamliner direct out of there to NRT I think.

 

[Trampel]

Thanks Ausbt,

Great points there, will definitely look into that! So much to do wish we could go for longer, but the main reason is the snow!

$1k's not bad, best I've gotten is just under $4k on JAL via HGK but that's 22 hrs all up.

Don't mind flying from the Gold Coast but have to figure out getting there/parking fees etc..

We're open to a stop over just trying to weigh up shortest trip v price of longer trip..

 

[eastwest101]

Thanks Ozbeachbabe,

No problem flying JQ from OOL but by the time I've added on luggage it's not much cheaper than flying from BNE.

Correct - sounds like you are doing your homework, I had a look at typical fares on 8th Jan and 19th Jan 2016. Typically airfares can be quite high at this time of the year between Australia and Japan thanks to Australian School holidays, the great skiing in Japan and the high AUD. The direct choices would seem to be:

QF direct flights BNE-NRT in economy class ($1798 ea return) with the obvious advantage of flying QF on an A330-300 with 2-4-2 seating and direct flights both ways

vs

JQ semi direct flights OOL-NRT in economy class ($1690 ea return) with the disadvantages of being on the JQ B787 with 3-3-3 seating, tighter seat pitch, less width, plus once you add the cost of the bundles such as cost of food, baggage fees, hiring entertainment, seat selection fees, credit card fees :evil: etc etc and extras combined with being via CNS on the way back into Australia (with a extremely inconvenient early morning stop and transfer to a domestic CNS-OOL flight at CNS airport!)


Seems a "no brainer" to me (especially with kids) that QF is the better option of the two, and is almost the same price as JQ for a much more pleasant experience.

 

[Trampel]

Thanks Eastwest, just seen we could also fly via Singapore with a free stopover. Might have to look into that. Thanks again to everyone for all the help and advice. Much appreciated

 

[Tamerton]

We're also looking at going to Japan in late March for a couple of weeks to tour around. What is JAL like? We have QF points to use for flights, which airline is the best value when using points from Sydney? It doesn't matter where we fly into.

 

[bullerdude]

You can go on Singapore via Singapore for around $1400 return at that time, and you might be able to get a free stopover on these flights.

 

[Himeno]

QF and JL codeshare TYO-Australia via SIN. JL has 2 SIN-HND flights daily and 1 SIN-NRT daily. All have QF codes.

 

[Trampel]

Thanks all,

We've decided to fly via SIN and have a few days there on the way to HND. Using the ITA Software I got a really good price of $4500 for the 4 of us leaving BNE 1 Jan - SIN; Leaving SIN on the 5 Jan - HND leaving HND on the 20 Jan returning to BNE via SIN.

When I took the print out into Flight Centre the best they could do was $5400 which is the same price i got on the Singapore Airlines website and when i phoned them. i selected AUD as the price and sales city as BNE.

Has anyone had any luck with the ITA Software search?

Thanks
Troy

 

[smit0847]

Thanks all,

We've decided to fly via SIN and have a few days there on the way to HND. Using the ITA Software I got a really good price of $4500 for the 4 of us leaving BNE 1 Jan - SIN; Leaving SIN on the 5 Jan - HND leaving HND on the 20 Jan returning to BNE via SIN.

When I took the print out into Flight Centre the best they could do was $5400 which is the same price i got on the Singapore Airlines website and when i phoned them. i selected AUD as the price and sales city as BNE.

Has anyone had any luck with the ITA Software search?

Thanks
Troy

Any decent travel agent should be able to give you the ITA price- thats the purpose of it!! Maybe try a non FC travel agent? I can recommend one.