British Airways flies to both Tokyo Narita and Tokyo Haneda, and has now announced that they will be launching non stop flight to Osaka Kansai with the following schedule from March 31, 2019:
- BA19 London Heathrow to Osaka Kansai departing 2:40pm arriving 9:50am (+1) [Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays]
- BA20 Osaka Kansai to London Heathrow departing 11:30am arriving 3:50pm [Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays]
The flight will be operated by BA’s Boeing 787-8 aircraft, which is three class, with economy, premium economy and business class. These aircraft do not have first class.
The flight is blocked at 11 hours 30 minutes east bound, and 12 hours 30 minutes west bound.
Ben reviewed the British Airways A380 business class seat, which is very similar to their Boeing 787 business class seat.
British Airways has said of the new route:
The new route takes the number of daily flights between London and Japan offered as part of British Airways’ joint business with Japan Airlines up to 32 per week.
Japanese tourism is set to grow from 24 million annual visitors in 2016 to 40 million in 2020. Osaka was recently named as the third most liveable city in the world and is considered to be the food capital of Japan.
British Airways has not flown to Osaka since 1998. The airline will codeshare on connections from Tokyo Haneda and Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Komatsu and Matsuyama (remembering British Airways flies from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda already).
Award Availability
Award flights have already been loaded on this flight, regardless of whether booking through British Airways Executive Club, American AAdvantage, or another program. British Airways promises to make at least two business class and four economy award seats available per flight, and that’s the case here as well.
You can book this flight for 75,000 American AAdvantage miles one-way in business class.
Alternatively you can redeem British Airways Avios at the cost of 75,000 Avios one-way during off-peak periods, and 90,000 Avios one-way during peak periods for business class.
Remember that unfortunately no matter how you book, you will be hit with both fuel surcharges and the frustrating UK APD for these flights, although you may choose to start from somewhere outside the UK to eliminate this APD. The one-way ticket from London to Osaka comes with nearly $500 in taxes and surcharges.
Bottom line
I’ve been to Japan numerous times and while Tokyo is an undeniably fantastic city, I would say Osaka is my favourite place in Japan.
I loved how few tourists there were and actually enjoyed how few people spoke English — it was a unique experience, and a good chance for me to brush up on my Japanese I learnt at school!
Remember if you are flying into Osaka and want to explore the rest of the country, you could either explore a Japan Rail Pass, or book cheap domestic flights within Japan this way.
British Airways does have an impressive international route network!
Have you visited Osaka?
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