British Airways Launching Flights To Osaka, Japan

I used to live in Osaka!

Having the Osaka option is nice. That way you can fly into Tokyo, take the shinkansen down to Kyoto, then finish up in Osaka and fly out of Kansai. A good starter's tour of Japan.

Himeji castle is no way near Osaka.

@ Alex - you'll be wanting a Japan Rail Pass or cheap domestic flight like I refer to in the article then ; P

How can you say Osaka has "too few tourists?" It's crowded with travelers from Korea throughout the whole year. There are more than 6 airlines operating KIX-SEL. Maybe all Asian people in Japan just looks local to you. I'm not surprised but the comment you made was ridiculous.

@ cmon - I meant compared with Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima, it felt like there were a lot less tourists in Osaka. I never said there were 'too few tourists'.

I may not speak Korean, but I can recognise the difference between the two languages, when I hear them being spoken on the street ; )

The largest Korean Japanese community in Japan is in Osaka (90k people strong), so those Korean speakers might not all be tourists...

@James

Why reply to @cmon after he called the comment 'ridiculous'? You were clearly just telling us a harmless opinion about Osaka, and had no 'ridiculous' tone whatsoever.

Its your blog, and if I were you I'd just delete an abusive comment like that.

Osaka is crawling with tourists! I live in Hong Kong and it's impossible to go 5 minutes in that city without hearing Chinese, which makes you feel like you haven't left. It's a great city, but there are plenty of LCCs doing cheap regional flights to KIX, plus it's on the tourist trail for most people.

Interesting, since Air France flies CDG-KIX and uses JL for connections beyond KIX
Maybe a sign for AF and JL cutting codeshare?

Excellent news! I have been wanting to go to Osaka for a while now and had been surprised by the lack of non-stop options from London on any airline (and the outrageous price of one-stop connection options via Tokyo). U.K.-Japan remains a thinly-served and massively over-priced market (esp in premium cabins) so anything that increases the number of weekly flights is good thing - also happy to see BA expanding further in the Far East.

You must not have been to Osaka anytime recently. It's going through a huge tourist boom and it seems to have just as many tourists as Tokyo if not more. The main difference is that the tourists are mostly Chinese and Korean. There are much fewer Westerners.

KLM operates AMS-KIX daily with an 787-9, since forever, speaking about a network.

Do any BA Executive members know the status of the class action lawsuit? BA was expected to Pay Up to 2.2 Billion Avios or $31 Million in Fuel Surcharge Settlement Refunds. The legal rights and options expired in July. I suppose I could email: [email protected] for further information of payout timing, but I thought I would address to OMAAT to quickly see if anyone knows what the status is?

Do any BA Executive Members have an update regarding BA's Class action lawsuit + payout:
BA to Pay Up to 2.2 Billion Avios or $31 Million in Fuel Surcharge Settlement Refunds? The deadline to submit cash option or Avios was back in July. Do any OMAAT Executive Members know what the status is?

@Endre still no one cares.

Id rather fly in ANA economy than BA business. Horrible airline.

The other thing that I haven't seen mentioned is the possibility of getting the 4 BA segment requirement for Silver / Gold via the new codeshares from Haneda to Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Komatsu and Matsuyama.

Since they will be BA coded they should be eligible?

@Alex

Himeji is in Keihanshin (Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto) commuter zone. Even non-Shinkansen train will take you from Himeji to Osaka in only a little over an hour.

How is that not "close"?

That's a monkey miles review, not a review by Ben (for the A380 BA seat)

@JH Neoh,

I believe all 4 segments must be on BA metal not codeshares.

So BA lays off all HKG staff and starts a new KIX route, since there is minimal KIX - LHR competition with with competitors you'd want to fly on.

"If you can't beat them, avoid them!"