hi...my brother is leaving for japan in just a few weeks. he's going to be working there for a yr. or so. during that time, i plan to take advantage of the free lodging and visit at least once.
my mom knows a japanese guy who says he gets an off - peak rt fare of $550 from dulles airport in northern virginia to tokyo on ANA ( all nippon airlines ).
anyone know of any better fares or special deals? the lowest i see on most quotes is $1,200 or so.
i learned that ANA partners w/ united, whose ff membership i hold. that should help. any suggestions / tips will be appreciated.

Do a web search for "satogaeri" fares and you should get a decent ticket. For most major gateways you should be able to get fares under $600 for lower seasons. In case you can't find a site, here's a good reference: URL=http://www.iace-usa.com/ticket/index.html]http://www.iace-usa.com/ticket/index.html[/URL] It's high season now, fares are rather expensive at $800-$900.

BTW satogaeri tickets in general have relatively high booking classes, and many are date changeable on the return leg (please check).

Supply is quite abundant; JL/NH/AA/UA/DL/NW/CO fly multiple US-JPNs daily, as well as carriers like RG and TG fly LAX-NRT like every other day.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by silver (edited 07-06-2000).]