-
Looking to book Avios flights to Japan for April / May 26.
BA flies to Tokyo. However I suspect better options exist for quality of service etc.
Not yet decided on destination even in Japan or anything else.
But have plenty of Avios to get a good option if possible.
Those who have flown to Japan, any recommendations on airline etc… Or even best airport to fly to / from (which can be different).
Thinking also of comfort of the flight, but maybe also lounges etc
Thanks
You have, I think, options to use avios on IB, QR and JAL to Japan, all of which are spoken more highly of on here than BA! You’ll need to be on the ball to get award seats though, especially if you want to go in business class.
AY as well. Plenty of threads on the topic, so have a browse.
Juts be really mindful of the poor value you get – at least with BA – without a 2-4-1. 210k Avios plus £575 puts you in range of a reasonable cash fare – without the mad scramble for availability.
Cathay Pacific is also an option. MH as well, but you’re starting to go a bit out of the way
And maybe look into the BA partner awards https://www.headforpoints.com/2024/03/08/british-airways-avios-multi-partner-chart/
AY is far better than BA, and unless you are using a voucher is also far cheaper.
AY fly to Tokyo (*2), Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo, and have more Avios availability than BA.
Also consider flying via Seoul, HK, SIN, or even mainland China of you can’t find redemption flights. We booked six months out for our current trip.
You could make considerable savings splitting your journey into two tickets if going via HEL or MAD, but be aware of the risk of missing your connection if disaster strikes. We saved over £200 each doing this.
AY is far better than BA, and unless you are using a voucher is also far cheaper.
AY fly to Tokyo (*2), Osaka, Nagoya, and Sapporo, and have more Avios availability than BA.
Also consider flying via Seoul, HK, SIN, or even mainland China of you can’t find redemption flights. We booked six months out for our current trip.
You could make considerable savings splitting your journey into two tickets if going via HEL or MAD, but be aware of the risk of missing your connection if disaster strikes. We saved over £200 each doing this.
We too booked our Finnair flights (to Osaka) on separate tickets and saved money.
Surprisingly, it was the same plane (and same gate) that brought us to Helsinki.
Bags checked through at Heathrow to Osaka.
With a 2.5 hour connection at Helsinki, I’d definitely do this again without much worry – especially if it turns out that they always use the a350 from Heathrow to continue onto Osaka.
Perhaps someone with a flight radar account can check tail numbers.Avios is actually 220k (110k peak, 100k peak). Taxes on BA are £575 x 2. So it’s 220k Avios+ £1150
It’s 250k for two on AY and whatever low taxes are from Helsinki. So even with voucher and extra flights costs it’s at least comparable to BA.
Of course if you’re Avios poor then it might not for you.
Got back today from two weeks in Japan on Avios with a 241. Obviously we booked BA for that, naturally missing the power substation cancellations by a day! (Very glad I failed to get my first choice date on Friday 21st March). If you’re aiming for Sakura season you’re possibly a little late depending on your dates, although demand is super high late March really April because of it.
All our flights worked as expected, but I was reading Reddit of someone who booked reward seats in big l club a couple of days after us and got involuntarily downgrade. BA also downgraded our outbound club suite 777 to a ying-yang 787 just after booking, (Although they are now rolling out the suites on 787-8s so you might fare better next year) Flew back on the A350 though.
210,000 Avios plus £1100, a BAPP voucher and some advanced planning seems like decent value for two of us. We did look at Qatar flights as a backstop in case we couldn’t get the BA flight, which without the voucher work out at more Avios (320,000) but lower taxes. It also opens up the possibility of open jaw, although I’m glad we returned via Tokyo due to the running of the cherry blossom this year. My wife has yet to do back to back long hauls and didn’t want to change in DOH, hence we preferred BA, although I’m sure the hard product would have been better on Qatar or Finnair.
In terms of itinerary, we did 3 nights Tokyo, 2 Nagoya, 4 Kyoto (day trips to Osaka and Nara), 2 Hiroshima and finally 3 back in Tokyo, all joined up via Shinkansen. We could have done with more time in Kyoto, although the Toyota museum was a particular draw to Nagoya, but assuming that’s a niche interest of mine you might have similar experiences exploring Kyoto more than we did rather than pausing in Nagoya.
Two logistical tips that really made our trip work well:
1) Welcome Suica has SO useful for all metros and local trains. If you’re arriving into Tokyo, don’t leave the airport without one each.
2) For shinkansen, ignore Klook and go to SmartEx. No need to pickup tickets, decade seat reservations, instant QR code tickets and you can apparently link your IC cards to even rap onto bullet trains.A couple of months ago I flew out on JAL First and back again on BA First, all booked via Avios. Originally it was 2x Club World bookings, but keeping an eye on availability paid off – it did mean paying a heck of a lot of extra Avios for the JAL flight, but it was well worth it.
JAL First was simply amazing, veggie food aside, truly one of those “once in a lifetime” things. The screen in JAL First is 43 inches, and it was like being in a small personal cinema room! You even get two seats, in effect…
BA’s equivalent on the way back was still very nice, of course, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the JAL flight. (To be fair, watching the guy across the aisle’s bare foot being used on the large screen to scroll the moving map throughout the flight may have had an effect too… utterly disgusting).
Both of these were, of course, light years ahead of the ageing ying-yang Club World seats I’d originally booked.
My advice is to grab what you can in terms of seats, but be alert for potential upgrades to First, especially in the last 3 weeks or so before the flights. Checking a few times a day, manually, should be good enough.
watching the guy across the aisle’s bare foot being used on the large screen to scroll the moving map throughout the flight
Amazing.
Got back today from two weeks in Japan on Avios with a 241.
Two logistical tips that really made our trip work well:
1) Welcome Suica has SO useful for all metros and local trains. If you’re arriving into Tokyo, don’t leave the airport without one each.
2) For shinkansen, ignore Klook and go to SmartEx. No need to pickup tickets, decade seat reservations, instant QR code tickets and you can apparently link your IC cards to even rap onto bullet trains.Sounds like we were there at the same time give or take – we flew back on Saturday. Also BA 241 but managed to snag F on the way back. Did 5 nights in Tokyo – just because we could do 5 nights for price of 4 in the Conrad, with status , which was a good base. Then Kyoto and Hiroshima. Shinkansen outbound then JAL flight back to Tokyo – also on avios.
Just to add to the top tips – Suica is available as a travel card (on an iPhone at least) which is super simple AND you can top it up with a credit card. I think the physical card is cash only for top ups(?). Only downside is that you cannot link it to the Shinkansen ticket like a physical card but, as you say, QR coded tickets with SmartEx work just fine.
Editted to add: Avios redemptions through BA on JAL is a bit clunky. Difficult to manage the booking and impossible to OLCI – can’t do it through the BA app as it’s a different carrier – but also couldn’t do it through the JAL app.
Editted to add: Avios redemptions through BA on JAL is a bit clunky. Difficult to manage the booking and impossible to OLCI – can’t do it through the BA app as it’s a different carrier – but also couldn’t do it through the JAL app.
Are you able to select your seats if booking via BA.com?
Sounds like we were there at the same time give or take – we flew back on Saturday. Also BA 241 but managed to snag F on the way back. Did 5 nights in Tokyo – just because we could do 5 nights for price of 4 in the Conrad, with status , which was a good base. Then Kyoto and Hiroshima. Shinkansen outbound then JAL flight back to Tokyo – also on avios.
Seems like we followed each other around the country! Hope you had a great time.
We considered flying back from Hiroshima to Tokyo using either cash or Virgin points on ANA, but for £75 per person city centre to city centre and no faff with security etc. we concluded the Shinkansen was the better option for us.
Just to add to the top tips – Suica is available as a travel card (on an iPhone at least) which is super simple AND you can top it up with a credit card. I think the physical card is cash only for top ups(?).
The wife has an iPhone but I’m Android so the phone version wasn’t an option for me, so we chose two physical cards for the simplicity of handing them identically. It did mean cash top ups every so often but that wasn’t a big chore to us. Either way, having the card made everything really smooth…
A few suggestions for using Finnair but don’t they only release one seat in J for redemption per flight?
A few suggestions for using Finnair but don’t they only release one seat in J for redemption per flight?
I’ve found at least two available for some of the dates to the destinations I’ve searched for.
Finnair guarantees 2 J seats on every flight and there is always availability if you wait a few months and even more closer to the date.
Regarding JAL app/seat or meal selection, you have to use the right website and app as there are several.
I’m still using the Suica card that I got in 2019. They last 10 years. If you have an android phone, there is an app called Suikakeibo that can read your physical card and show you what you’ve spent, where you spent it, and your balance. Top up, as others have said, is cash only. But as 7-11 have free ATMs and do Suica top ups, it’s not really a problem.
My OH has an iPhone, and stored his Suica in his Apple Wallet. This allows him to top up directly from Chase in Apple Pay. However, once you store the Suica card in your Apple Wallet, the physical card becomes unusable. I don’t know what happens when you change phones?
Suica can also be used as a payment card in some stores, so you can easily run down any excess credit as you near the end of your trip.
Suica is the IC card issued by JR East in Tokyo (and other places). Other areas have their own IC cards. They are interoperable, and I think they all work nationwide.
The validity is 10 years from last transaction (that’s the case for all IC cards). I am still using one from 2012.
Make sure to register the card as otherwise if you lose it, you lose the money.
Normal Suica cards are valid for 10 years. “Welcome Suica” are only valid for 28 days. The latter avoids the ¥500 deposit, but also can’t refund any balance.
I think we ended up with a little over ¥100 on each (less than the ¥220 fee placed on Suica refunds) so it worked out well for us, but I can see there’s barely any benefit in the welcome Suica over the standard one.
Editted to add: Avios redemptions through BA on JAL is a bit clunky. Difficult to manage the booking and impossible to OLCI – can’t do it through the BA app as it’s a different carrier – but also couldn’t do it through the JAL app.
Definitely agree with clunky; but I’ve been able to check in online for reward flights on JAL that were booked through BA – although admittedly this was November 2023.
On two JAL flights (FUK>IZO and IZO>HND) I managed to check in online and download boarding cards to my phone. The trick seemed to be to check in on the US JAL website (www.jal.co.jp/ar/en/) which redirected me to check in on the Amadeus site (checkin.si.amadeus.net/static/PRD/JL/#/identification).Normal Suica cards are valid for 10 years. “Welcome Suica” are only valid for 28 days. The latter avoids the ¥500 deposit, but also can’t refund any balance.
I think we ended up with a little over ¥100 on each (less than the ¥220 fee placed on Suica refunds) so it worked out well for us, but I can see there’s barely any benefit in the welcome Suica over the standard one.
That’s not correct as per official website.
If a Suica card is not used for 10 years, it will become invalid.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/pass/suica.html
So if you use it once every ten years minus one day, you will be fine. As I said, I have a valid card from 2012 which was 13 years ago. Still working very nicely.
Welcome Suica is of course only for tourists and as such validity is different. No-one intending to come back to Japan should buy it.
Finnair guarantees 2 J seats on every flight and there is always availability if you wait a few months and even more closer to the date.
How do you search this and I can never find availability much after when they are released?
You need to look HEL-HND or HEL-NRT or KIX or NGO.
It’s a question of date by date. You need to be flexible.
That’s not correct as per official website.
If a Suica card is not used for 10 years, it will become invalid.
https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/pass/suica.html
So if you use it once every ten years minus one day, you will be fine. As I said, I have a valid card from 2012 which was 13 years ago. Still working very nicely.
Welcome Suica is of course only for tourists and as such validity is different. No-one intending to come back to Japan should buy it.
You are correct in the best way… “Technically” correct 🙂 I wasn’t trying to contradict you on the expiry of a normal Suica so didn’t clarify the “from last use” bit you’d already mentioned – I was just saying that’s not true of all Suicas as the tourist focused Welcome Suica has a much shorter, fixed validity. The above posts weren’t making that part clear.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
