If you’re booking a domestic flight within Japan and want to get as good of a deal as possible on a premium cabin ticket, here’s the trick to doing so…
In this post:
Japanese airlines have unique domestic products
Both All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) operate a dedicated fleet of domestic aircraft, which are in a high density configuration. This makes sense, since the planes all fly very short distances, and a lot of people need to be moved.
For example, Japan Airlines has a dedicated fleet of Airbus A350-900s, which exclusively operate within the country, and they’re pretty swanky. Meanwhile All Nippon Airways’ most modern domestic jet is the Boeing 787-10.
It’s interesting to note the different approaches the airlines take to configuring these jets:
- Japan Airlines’ domestic A350-900s feature 12 first class seats, 94 “Class J” seats (which, despite the name, isn’t business class, but is more like premium economy), and 263 economy seats
- All Nippon Airways’ domestic 787-10s feature 28 premium class seats and 401 economy seats
For all practical purposes, I’d consider Japan Airlines’ A350 first class to be along the same lines of All Nippon Airways’ 787 premium class, despite the different branding.
How to lower the price of domestic ANA flights
Generally speaking, when airlines compete in a market and there’s not a single dominant carrier, pricing is similar. Of course there are exceptions, like if a particular fare class isn’t available, a flight is nearly full, etc. But if booking far out, it’s generally true.
If you’re outside of Japan and compare the cost of Japan Airlines first class to All Nippon Airways premium class (like with Google Flights), you might be shocked by the difference in pricing, as All Nippon Airways consistently charges 50%+ more.
For example, from Tokyo to Sapporo, Japan Airlines has first class fares starting at $284 one-way…
…while All Nippon Airways has premium class fares starting at $434 one-way.
From Tokyo to Fukuoka, Japan Airlines has first class fares starting at $271 one-way…
…while All Nippon Airways has premium class fares starting at $462 one-way.
So, what’s going on here? Is the pricing really that different? No, there’s actually something else going on here, as pointed out by some OMAAT readers, and I figure it’s worth covering. Long story short, All Nippon Airways uses point of sale restrictions on domestic flights, while Japan Airlines doesn’t.
For example, if you go to the US version of All Nippon Airways’ website, you’ll see a fare of $431 one-way from Tokyo to Sapporo…
Meanwhile if you instead visit the Japanese version of the website, you’ll see the fare is 31,910 JPY, or around $205, less than half the cost.
Just to be clear, you’re not violating any rules by using the Japanese version of the website, as it’s not like there are residency requirements, or anything. Instead, the airline just sells its most flexible and expensive domestic fares through its foreign websites.
So yeah, if booking All Nippon Airways premium class, make sure you use the Japanese version of All Nippon Airways’ website, and you’ll get a much better deal.
Bottom line
It’s interesting to note that All Nippon Airways uses point of sale restrictions for its lowest fares on domestic flights, including in premium class. So if you want to get the best deals on domestic flights within Japan on All Nippon Airways, don’t use Google Flights, as you won’t find the best fares there. Instead, use All Nippon Airways’ website and set your location to Japan, and you’ll see much more attractive prices.
The flat 1000jpy class J upgrade from economy combined with their 10k jpy Japan explorer fares they had, i was probably the best deal that JAL had until they raised the prices on it. It was on a standby/availability basis, but on the routes I flew I almost always got class J.
I had the same experience with United. I was trying to purchase a flight from LHR to NYC and at during payment was told I cannot buy this fare because I was using my Australian addresss ( the address of my credit card).
Instead of dealing with the silliness of it all, I walked into the closest travel agent and got the whole thing booked within 60 seconds.
Air China is the same, with only full fare in economy available unless using the Chinese website. The problem is that you have to register with a Chinese phone number to be able to use the Chinese website. It seems like the only easy way to get around this is to use Trip.com
While JAL's newer Class J has a better IFE system, ANAs Premium Class appears to be more comfortable with a deeper recline, increased pitch, and other creature comforts.
What is with Japan's massive domestic configured flights? Do they fly fewer frequencies or are there that many fliers between major cities?
Japan still has one of the largest populations in the world. They're going to have that many fliers.
Japan has largely concentrated populations in a few major cities (since they're landmass constrained) and their country is structurally an archipelago, meaning you need to cross over water to get to other places in the first place like Okinawa.
There are that many fliers between major cities. Japan is very densely populated and the distance between cities is long. It is also quite mountainous, hence why air travel is the preferred method of travel in many scenarios.
They are indeed packed. In my experience on several intra Japan flights
Thankfully they load fast and are on time
ANA and JAL both fly hourly between HND and CTS with a mix of domestic 737, 777, and 787. I've occasionally seen a 767 as well. Then add in the mix of Air Do and Skymark flights and you get 4 flights an hour on that route at peak times.
They've been almost always full when I've been on them, but really efficient in loading. It still amazes me they can seat 200-300 pax...
ANA and JAL both fly hourly between HND and CTS with a mix of domestic 737, 777, and 787. I've occasionally seen a 767 as well. Then add in the mix of Air Do and Skymark flights and you get 4 flights an hour on that route at peak times.
They've been almost always full when I've been on them, but really efficient in loading. It still amazes me they can seat 200-300 pax in 15-20min and leave on time. It was a sight when you got the B747SRs of yesteryear and their 500+ domestic pax loads.
Some months ago I booked two tickets Ana Premium Domestic for April. Last week I received a message that the flight schedule has been changed (5 mins difference) and to my surprise I saw that on one way we were downgraded to economy.
No explanation why, no price difference given, nothing. I tried to call ANA official contact numbers (from CH), but after half an hour of ("your call is important to us") or...
Some months ago I booked two tickets Ana Premium Domestic for April. Last week I received a message that the flight schedule has been changed (5 mins difference) and to my surprise I saw that on one way we were downgraded to economy.
No explanation why, no price difference given, nothing. I tried to call ANA official contact numbers (from CH), but after half an hour of ("your call is important to us") or ("die Nummer ist nicht erreichbar") I had enough and followed the online procedure for the flight to be cancelled.
In the process I learned that it would be better to do the booking from Japanese website to get a Japanese booking code. With international 6 digit booking code (yes, for a non-connecting domestic flight!) the chatbot did not want to proceed.
Still waiting what will happen, as apparently it may take up to 10 days to finalize the process.
I should add another note about JAL domestic F.
Their full price fare is coded as First class for the purposes of crediting miles to AA, however, their discounted fare bucket is considered economy.
Thanks so much for all the feedback. The post is now updated so that other people hopefully learn the lesson that I did. I appreciate it!
FYI Ben if you're looking to book for July, the deepest Premium Class discount fares for those dates will be released to the public at 11 AM JST on January 29, which is in roughly 8 hours from now (9 PM ET on January 28).
You will need to be logged into your ANA Mileage Club account to book at that time, otherwise you'd have to wait until 9:30 AM JST on January 30.
Source: https://www.ana.co.jp/en/jp/domestic/theme/sv_vv/
yoloswag got it - domestic flights in foreign countries are often massively overpriced to fool foreigners. Use a local travel agent to buy one of the much cheaper fares.
In many cases (like Mexico and Japan), you can book direct via the airline's website without going through a travel agent.
In this specific case, just use ANA's Japan website (English or Japanese).
I’m in Japan right now and I can see NGO-NRT at 36K yen (~220$). I have seen in restaurants having english menus with different prices so it could be an issue .
Try using VPN.
Would credit card payments go through if you use a VPN? I read somewhere that credit card transactions might get blocked if one does that.
I don't think you need to mask where you are via VPN, just use the in-country website. I've done this with other carriers and never used a VPN, though often have had to use Google translate to navigate the website.
That's a rail-cpuntering practice. All domestic flights in Japan are fixed price about 10k yen in Y if you are already in the country. There is no yield management for this market segment you can easily book last minute a 10k ticket that is 50k on the open market. You need proof that you are foreigner non permanent resident and already in the country if I recall correctly. Never checked of the premium classes are...
That's a rail-cpuntering practice. All domestic flights in Japan are fixed price about 10k yen in Y if you are already in the country. There is no yield management for this market segment you can easily book last minute a 10k ticket that is 50k on the open market. You need proof that you are foreigner non permanent resident and already in the country if I recall correctly. Never checked of the premium classes are as discounted as economy but it's tough to beat. JAL calls it Japan Explorer Pass. You can upgrade at check in on a standby basis
You mean business class for ANA? And, as an aside, any plans to review the A380 to HNL?
@ Proximanova -- That should've read premium class, my mistake. Fixed.
Actually they're both the same price. Both JAL F and ANA Premium Class start off around the same price, in that $400 to $500 bucket.
Right now, you're seeing discounted fare buckets for JAL F as the dates close-in
It seems that Google Flights isn't good at picking up the various fare classes that ANA has. But if you go into the ANA website, when they have the various discounted fare buckets, and it's comparable.
@ yoloswag420 -- I must be missing something, because when I go to ANA's website, I still don't see lower fares, whether booking further in advance or closer to departure. So you have any examples of fares you see that are in the $250-300 range, like JAL?
Here's a quick example:
HND-CTS dep. Mar 12, 2025
There are at least 11 flights that are priced at JPY 31910 (~$200)
Point of sale. If you select Japan, the prices TYO-FUK show below 50k JPY, around 320 USD.
@ Peter -- Ahhhh, and now it all makes sense. It's a point of sale restriction. I'm updating the post now! Should've assumed that was the case. But it's interesting how ANA uses point of sale restrictions, while JAL doesn't.
That was for next week, March shows 35k JPY/230 USD