Travel to Japan

Status
Not open for further replies.

simongr

Enthusiast
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Posts
14,307
Hi again
I am just planing a business trip to Japan in early December. We do all our travel bookings through some company (FCM) but before I get quotes from them I do a quick check on expedia to get an idea of flights/times/cost.

Hvaing just checked I found that there werent many QF flights on the day I want to travel (3 Dec) unless I go via Cairns :shock: and a day earlier JAL is about $2K cheaper than QF. I thought I read somewhere that JAL was joining oneworld in October - did I just imagine that? If not - and if I have to fly JAL - are these basically dead miles to me? I am QF gold and working on my AA plat challenge.

Also if I have to fly JAL - what is their business class like? ANy good at all?
 
Have you looked at CX via HKG. They have good connections with flights from Aussie and the planes are far better than the old stuff QF have on the flights to Japan. I bet their price is quite competitive as well.
 
simongr said:
Hi again
I am just planing a business trip to Japan in early December. We do all our travel bookings through some company (FCM) but before I get quotes from them I do a quick check on expedia to get an idea of flights/times/cost.

Hvaing just checked I found that there werent many QF flights on the day I want to travel (3 Dec) unless I go via Cairns :shock: and a day earlier JAL is about $2K cheaper than QF. I thought I read somewhere that JAL was joining oneworld in October - did I just imagine that? If not - and if I have to fly JAL - are these basically dead miles to me? I am QF gold and working on my AA plat challenge.

Also if I have to fly JAL - what is their business class like? ANy good at all?

If you fly on JAL you will get AA FF miles however these do not count towards annual status qualification ( in general only OW flights count towards status ) . Since you will have completed your challenge by then, there is no reason not to give JL a go. Once JL joins OW ( which is early next year iirc ) I expect that the situation will change and miles earned on JL will count towards status renewal

I haven't personally flown on JL , though people I know who have, have said they are good. JAL International Flights - Executive Class(In-flight Service)

Dave
 
Thanks for the info - having just spoken to my [shared] PA I have just been told that I have to fly Qantas no matter what the cost :rolleyes:

Just a shame that I cant punt both these trips (SIN and NRT) into 2007 - would be much healthier for Exec Platinum status ;) I really think there is a need for a couple of trips to JFK next year :)
 
QF135 is a non-stop A330-300 operated SYD-NRT service. Surely that is the best way to fly if you have to use QF. For 3rd December its showing availability in business class (J9 D0) and plenty in economy including FF award seats (T9 X9).

There is also a non-stop overnight A330-300 flight QF21.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

Thanks re the availability - its weird that on the QF website they only showed the fligth via cairns - and that was what spooked me a little.

We have quite a slow process before we can actually make the bookings though - first we get a quote, then I fill in a travel request form, then I send it to my local boss and his boss for approval and then we can actually book.

Its all a bit amusing in a way given that the travel has actually been approved by the company board when they approved my work plan for the year - so all these local approvals are a bit of a waste really :)
 
simongr said:
We have quite a slow process before we can actually make the bookings though - first we get a quote, then I fill in a travel request form, then I send it to my local boss and his boss for approval and then we can actually book.
We have a similarly slow approval process, and international travel actually requires Australian CEO approval, so it goes to my manager/director, then VP, then CEO. That process can take weeks, although when I have had it all completed in 15 mins when needed.

But I can call the travel centre directly and get them to provide the quote and to actually make the booking at that time. Then when the approvals come through (eventually) its only a matter of having the ticket issued. If using flexible booking classes the reservation can be made and held for long periods before ticketing. In many cases for fares such as DONE4, Y, B and even K, the ticket may not need to be issued until the day of travel.

So see if you can at least get the reservation made and not have the ticket issued until the approvals are complete.
 
Fortunately the forms should come back quickly - they dont pay for the flights locally (recharged to US) so they are happy to approve ;) We do have same approval process re CEO approval - my boss is CFO - his boss is CEO :)

I also have pushed things through very quickly - in fact we actually got bookings made before any approvals received when we got call at 7:30AM Wednesday to be in Pittsburgh by Friday - I stood over PA and instructed her to just book it so that we could go home and pack...

Just waiting for quote now...
 
simongr said:
I also have pushed things through very quickly - in fact we actually got bookings made before any approvals received when we got call at 7:30AM Wednesday to be in Pittsburgh by Friday - I stood over PA and instructed her to just book it so that we could go home and pack...
My booking record was a phone call at 3am telling me to get the next flight to KUL. I had approvals by 8:30am, ticket was being issued while I was at the check-in counter at 11am. I was in my KL hotel before midnight. And that one involved cancelling a DONE4 I was to commence the following day, rebooking the USA, EMEA and Asia components onto a DONE3 starting in KUL, and booking a BNE-SIN-KUL-HKG-BNE-MEL-SYD-BNE trip to cover the remainder. I had between 3am and 8am to find the new flights and itinerary, then kept the phone hot making the changes and getting the approvals needed. It helped that it was the VP from the USA that was paying the costs that was the one who called me at 3am, so he instructed the right people to approve.
 
My worst tale is being told at 10pm I was needed in Sydney the next day and already booked on the 6am trans-tasman flight, 7pm flight back (gets in after midnight) :(

So only a few hours to sleep, pack and go to the office to get the material and be fully briefed on the flight over.
 
simongr said:
Also if I have to fly JAL - what is their business class like? ANy good at all?
It's nothing very fancy, but it was OK. When I flew business class on JAL, they didn't have a flat bed though. The food was very nice (abalone in particular was very nicely done and presented).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top