Questions and Answers

Howdi,

I’m looking for suggestions on how to get to Tokyo, Japan (we will be based here) and back within a 10 day window as reasonably and maybe comfortably as possible budgeting constraints allow (I’ll explain in a moment). The dates are 03/09/2017 (plus or minus 1 day) to 03/19/2017 (firm or minus a day), and we are based in Philadelphia, PA.

We’re looking at the flight times and we must admit the idea of “Economy” for 14 hrs plus – if we’re lucky – is daunting…and yes I know people do it all the time – but I can’t help but ask if there is another way at a reasonable expense. We’ve both solely have been economy fliers domestically and internationally our flying careers and with the last few domestic/internatonal flights this year and past – it’s rough, each year I feel I’ve felt it get worse and we fly domestically a few times each year.

Don’t get me wrong we want to make the jump, but $7000+ for 2 roundtrip total before accommodations, transportation, dining, and sovieners is just out of the question. So I’ve been subscribed to OneMile(Ben) for a while and I’m looking at all these Business Class Deals and I’m coming up short for anything that helps me.

Should we simply chalk the Business class idea? That’s my thinking at this time. I’m just looking for the most value – I have a AMEX PRG and Barclay Arrival Plus. I’d say we could consider $2000pp roundtrip for flights (Business Class Deal???) out of anywhere in the US, and use points to get a domestic flight to that anywhere.

Thank you,

-Jay

Can you get to Toronto (or Vancouver) on points? Round-trip biz class fares on those dates from almost every major Canadian city are ~$1900 on Delta.

rickyw’s suggestion is good. You wouldn’t even have to get to YYZ/YVR on points, you could just pay for economy tickets which should only be a few hundred dollars.

One other suggestion I could give you is to buy a positioning flight to a major hub airport and pay for exit row seating on any Asian carrier where service will be better than any US carrier. I flew Singapore Airlines from Houston-Moscow-Singapore (~20 hours total) and paid $100 to sit at the front of the economy cabin. 100% worth it. The unlimited leg room combined with Singapore’s top notch service not only made the flight comfortable, but I’d say I downright enjoyed my flight.

Singapore flies to Tokyo from Los Angeles. Or you could fly ANA/JAL from a closer hub like Chicago, Toronto, or New York.