Japan Planning Thread 3

[Takoneko]

Hi!

This is a new Japan Planning Thread for when our last one is full.

Feel free to ask any questions here related to travel in Japan, regardless of budget or style of trip.

@Georgieporgie29 In my experience flights only tend get more expensive, so I book as early as I can. Obviously there’s a chance of cancellations (probably more
risk if you’re using a Chinese or Middle Eastern airline) but you’d be entitled to a refund and travel insurance would cover anything else that couldn’t be cancelled.

Hotels can be booked later but Japanese hotels usually offer very generous free cancellation. I tend to book hotels early and lock
in a price and then keep looking every so often in case something better or cheaper comes up.

"...can I just book the flights now and do hotels and everything later?"

Yes, absolutely no problem with that at all.

"...is there a perfect time to book your flights in advance for the best price"

Not really. The following is just my opinion. If you were travelling at peak season (like cherry blossom etc) then prices are never going to be cheap and you would be better off - in my opinion - booking 6 months ahead to get the flights that you want.

Other than that, as long as you're booking at least three months ahead then you're going to get stable pricing and still have lots of availability to choose the particular flight that you want.

With the major websites like skyscanner, kayak or google flights you can set up an alert that will tell you when prices go down.

Another thing to consider is which day of the week you're travelling, Tuesday and Wednesday are typically cheaper than the weekend.

"...could they get cancelled/changed"

That's always a possibility. But that would be because of something major (like a war or, given that this is Japan, an earthquake) or something last minute like a typhoon or very bad weather.

In either case, taking out travel insurance that includes cancellation cover before you actually book the flight would be a good idea.

Thank you so much for this. I have picked the flights I think I want. Direct with a Japanese airline, so I am going to try and set alerts on them (what a good idea, I hadn’t thought about that). Everyone has been tasked with booking the time off work this week and I was hoping to book them when everyone had confirmation so the alerts might not have enough time to work but I’ll certainly give them a go 😂

Also, great about the cancellation period on the hotels, that hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’m busy putting a list of hotels together but I could book the ones I’m thinking of now and if I find anything better then cancel and rebook.

Thanks so much for your help.

@Takoneko and @Another2Cats I have added alerts on the flights, on checking jal directly they are a couple of hundred more expensive (for 5 of us total) and it gave me the option to look at the seats available. There are only 6 seats on the flight back and they are a bit spread out. I’m now panicking that’s all they have left. Also, would it be worth booking direct for a little bit more to cut out the middle man in case of any issues? Thanks again.

100% book direct. If something goes wrong it’s so much better to be dealing with the airline staff directly at the airport rather than some online agent with AI chat bots. JAL include seat booking, so the seats you see should be what’s available. They do fill up because people don’t have to pay to chose their seat, but it does seem weird for them to be so full this far out. What happens if you look at flights a day earlier or later, are they also showing as very full? If not, then it might just been that there’s a lot of bookings that day for some reason.

I checked the same flight for the next day and there’s lots more seats (same price) and the flight going out has lots of seats. This is the flight out and the return flight that I’m looking at.

There must just be an unusually high number of bookings for that day. I think the economy class is also smaller on the Boeing than the airbus?

Have you checked the late night JL41 for the same/next day? It was about 00:30 when we took it. I’ve taken that flight twice before and find it surprisingly convenient. They give you free lounge access 2 hours before the flight to eat and drink and then they do a quick drink service on take off then lights out. You do have a long day to fill on departure day if you aren’t taking a connecting flight first though.

I hadn’t even looked at that one but yes there is a flight at quarter past midnight that has a similar amount of seats as our outgoing flight. I’m not sure about hanging around all day if check out is from 11. I’ll have a chat with everyone tonight and see what they think. I personally don’t mind being split up on the flight, I just feel under time pressure if we go for the one with not many seats left. (We could always do the morning flight the next day and get another day out there but I’ll have to get everyone to amend their annual leave to add a day on, selfishly that works for me 😂)

What did you think to the jal flight? How is it going direct for such a long time?
I was just put off flights with a stop after our trip last year to Thailand and the 7 hours in Dubai airport right in the middle of our return trip when we were knackered already.

Hiya
agree with others I’d definitely book direct with the airline, much easier in the event of disruption!
we have flown direct and via Doha and direct is much better in my opinion, especially on the way home when you just want to get there!!
some places in Japan only open bookings 6 months before but like Takenoko I booked as many as possible and kept an eye out for better deals as it got closer.

Flying JAL is something I willingly pay more for. Their wider economy seats make the flight way more bearable for me. The flight is long, but to me a 14 hour flight is better than two 7-8 hour flights and having to do the airport rigamarole an extra time. It’s not exactly fun, but once you’re on the plane it’s easier to just get it over with if you can afford to fly direct.

@Georgieporgie29 Sites like Expedia currently have a £24 per person discount if you book this flight through them, so that is where the cheaper price is coming from. As Takoneka said, if there are any problems then Expedia customer service is not going to be as good as speaking to the airline directly.

Frankly, either flying back the next day or taking the overnight flight sounds better.

If you're faced with a very late flight then you've got the choice of either putting your luggage in storage and then going out and having an extra day sightseeing or you book the flight for the night before and so, instead of spending the last night sleeping in your accommodation, you spend the last night sleeping on the plane (in other words you check out at probably 10pm the night before rather than 11am the following morning).

I think it can help to take an overnight flight sometimes. Quarter past midnight is going to be 4.15pm UK time. If you can stay awake for the first few hours then your body is likely to be nearer to UK time when you arrive home.

Why has my post been hidden???

Ooh wondering what you’ve said there to be hidden @Another2Cats 😂

Just replying to you giving my thoughts on overnight flights.

Hopefully they will clear it soon then @Another2Cats thank you

@Georgieporgie29 have you also looked at ANA? We’re flying with them next week, on a direct flight from Heathrow. It was a lot cheaper than JAL, in economy. Some seat selection was also included.
The flight is about 7pm from Heathrow, and the return from Haneda is about 10am. We’re staying in an airport hotel on our final night.
We flew out direct with JAL last year so it’ll be interesting to see how the two airlines compare.

@Pusspot oh yes I wonder how they compare, please do update us. Unfortunately, the ANA is much more expensive for our dates (although that’s probably a good thing as I’d have another decision to make then 😂)

@Pusspot what did you think to Jal?

If you're ever interested in seeing what individual flights are like then Youtube is a good place to look.

Here is a video of an economy flight from London to Tokyo with JAL on a Boeing 787-9
.

And here is a video of an economy flight from London to Tokyo with ANA on a Boeing 777-300ER
.

@Georgieporgie29 JAL was a very good experience. We actually booked with Cathay Pacific indirect via Hong Kong, but they rang us on the morning of our flight and asked if we could move onto the direct JAL flight instead. (The leg from HK to Haneda was a JAL codeshare). We flew out on a very modern plane, 3-3-3 I think. The food and service were excellent. They fed us shortly after take off, then it was lights out for hours. I slept for a while, but it wasn’t overly comfortable. We had a meal before landing and I saw Fuji peeping out from the clouds. I would try and get a window seat for this reason alone!
The plane was full, but it was extremely quiet. The passengers were mostly Japanese (in economy) and there was a large group of students who were impeccably behaved. Perhaps those seats that are already blocked out are for a school party?

Could be a large group booking like a school trip on the day you’re looking at. I’ve been on a flight from Japan to Australia with most of the economy class filled by Japanese students.

This would be my guess. Either a large school trip or bookings for a cruise/tour group.

I’ve flown ANA and JAL a lot.

I prefer JAL for economy although I usually find ANA to be cheaper for UK/Japan flights.

On recent trips to the UK I’ve flown direct to the UK on ANA from Haneda T2 (much more pleasant than T3). Then on the return I’ve flown Lufthansa ANA codeshares. LHR to Munich or Frankfurt on Lufthansa then an ANA flight to HND.

In case of interest, we did London to Seoul to Tokyo with Korean air and saved a few hundred per ticket. Seoul Tokyo is about 2.5 hours

@Another2Cats your post has been unhidden now so thank you.
I think we might go for the night flight, I was worried about the long day with nowhere to rest (I have a chronic illness and think this will be too much for me) however, if we can keep the room booked and just check out at the night time instead then I think this will work, so thank you for that suggestion.

Also, thanks to everyone else regarding the flights, I think you’re right and it is likely to be a school trip. I’m more bothered about being sat at the back right near the toilets tbh.