Japan - Getting free flights for Japan?

I'm new to the whole frequent flyer miles thing, and before I dive in head first and start trying to sign up for credit cards and stuff, I'd like to clarify a bit of information.
1. I am only interested in flying USA-Japan. Are there any recommended airlines that I try to collect miles with, or specific credit card offers that I should try?
2. A few years back, I had collected some miles on united airlines (lost them now), and I seem to remember that if I had wanted to use them towards a flight, there were limitations on when I could fly, and things like that. Though maybe I am just misremembering. Will I be able to schedule a flight for pretty much anytime I want, or do I have to try to schedule my plans around when the airline says I will be able to go? Does this vary by airline?
3. Would I be able to use miles to get a flight for someone else? Like to fly a friend from Japan to USA, and then back?
4. How many miles would I typically need for a round trip flight from east coast usa to Japan?

Thanks in advance!

Do you want to fly in economy or premium cabin?

Welcome to Flyertalk. Your choice of loyalty program will depend on a number of factors - including how frequently you fly, where you fly from, how you want to earn the miles, how you want to use the miles, whether you value quality of service over quality of seats etc.

To get the best advice, you should spend some time researching your options. As you explore the various mileage programs, you'll see the merits and demerits of each program and find a lot of relevant tips and advice in the "Miles And Points" section of Flyertalk. When something isnt' entirely clear, that's the best time to ask a targetted question. Typically, when you ask "Do you prefer this aspect of program X or this benefit of program Y", you'll find people arguing each way. One person's delight is another person's bête noire. It's up to you to ask the right questions and to filter the responses through whatever lenses make sense to you.

I suggest you start by reading the new users' introduction to the community:
http://www.flyertalk.com/newuser/

Pretty soon you'll be picking up all the tips you need and earning the benefits that matter to you. No doubt you'll be frustrated with some aspects of your chosen program and pleased with others - such is life.

Another factor to consider is how well you like the partners of your chosen airline.

I'm based in Minneapolis, which is a Delta hub, but I prefer the partner airlines of United (the Star Alliance) over those in Sky Team, so I accumulate miles on United whenever possible.

Star Alliance and oneworld miles can take you to Japanese cities other than Tokyo and Osaka. This is because two of the Japanese airlines, ANA and JAL are members of these alliances respectively.

You can check the award charts at the airlines for mileage requirements. Which cabin do you want to fly in? What is your U.S. departure city? How many flights a year? Give us a little more info and we can better help? You can use your miles for friends, but you are not allowed to sell them.

Star Alliance and oneworld miles can take you to Japanese cities other than Tokyo and Osaka. This is because two of the Japanese airlines, ANA and JAL are members of these alliances respectively.

Korean Airlines can also get you to a dozen or so airports in Japan, so it's feasible to choose a mileage program of one of the SkyTeam airlines to accumulate miles if you find it easier to earn with SkyTeam than with Star Alliance or One World. It sure as heck wouldn't suit me, but I'll just put it out there.

Korean Airlines can also get you to a dozen or so airports in Japan, so it's feasible to choose a mileage program of one of the SkyTeam airlines to accumulate miles if you find it easier to earn with SkyTeam than with Star Alliance or One World. It sure as heck wouldn't suit me, but I'll just put it out there.
DL blacks out about five or six months every year for award travel on KE. They have other partners who might work better, perhaps CZ through CAN or PVG.

However, note that DL does fly to a number of airports in Japan: NRT, HND, KIX, NGO, FUK IIRC

DL blacks out about five or six months every year for award travel on KE.

Sounds like one more reason for me not to consider accumulating miles with Delta. (As if I needed one more). But Delta surely isn't the only place to accumulate SkyTeam miles, is it? Meh. What do I know? I should stick to the first advice I gave here which is to explore the Miles & Points forums and get to know something about the pros and cons of various programs and then post a question with a little more focus.

Thanks for the advice so far everyone, I wasn't expecting so many replies this soon, lol.
To answer some questions, we are talking about maybe 1 flight per year. And I've got no problem with economy. I'm tough enough :)

US based carriers are the most generous. I would recommend UA. You can look up the mileage chart yourself but I think it's ~60k for economy. And they seem to have pretty good availability with 7-8 (?) US gateways to Tokyo and flights to Nagoya and Osaka as well.

But AA seems to have the most generous CC offers via Citi. You get like 30-40k just for signing up for one of their cards with annual fee waived. But AA has fewer routes to Japan (4), especially from the west coast so I would research the award availability also on their partner, JAL.

Delta has a strong route network to Japan (via NW merger), but I know nothing about their FF program. Hear a lot of bad things.

I think your location could be a primary decider. If you live on the west coast then AA might not be a good idea unless you can easily get awards on JAL.

I agree that we need to know your location in order to give meaningful advice.

However, assuming you are US based, a good initial strategy would be to apply for the highest credit card sign-up bonuses available with each of the major US-based international airlines (AA, DL, UA, US).

A US-Japan award ticket costs 50,000 AA miles, 60,000 US miles, 65,000 UA miles or 70,000 DL miles (IIRC).

In my experience, which may not be current, AA has the best award availability (despite having the fewest flights), while DL has the worst availability and UA/US are somewhere in the middle. Again it depends on your point of origin in the US. If you can get to LAX, for instance, Singapore Airlines has a ton of availability from there to NRT and can be booked using UA or US miles. You may also be able to book through Korea or China, or even going the "wrong way" through Europe, depending on the airline and routing.

You can search for award tickets on the AA, UA and DL websites even if you don't have a mileage account. I suggest that you do some sample searches for trips you might want to take in the future, and see what comes up.

If you are only flying once a year and have no elite status. It will take you 5 years of flying to get an award ticket. The other option is to rack up credit miles and use those.

Alright, so I live in North Carolina, so I am going out of the Charlotte airport.
Is there a solid option for me to be able to get 1 round trip ticket a year from now? Maybe by signing up for 2-3 different cards?
I don't really travel much, so I probably wont be able to do this year after year. But just getting 1 ticket would be nice, as they are extremely expensive.

Alright, so I live in North Carolina, so I am going out of the Charlotte airport.
Is there a solid option for me to be able to get 1 round trip ticket a year from now? Maybe by signing up for 2-3 different cards?
I don't really travel much, so I probably wont be able to do this year after year. But just getting 1 ticket would be nice, as they are extremely expensive.

Look at the forum on credit card programs. I think you'll need about 60k miles best case. Low mileage awards are often hard to come by. If you do a couple of searches for award tickets on the various sites (DL, UA, etc.), you'll get a fell for availability. If you have flexibility on dates it helps.

One thing to consider is that mileage award tickets are generally scarce around the periods when most people want to travel -- Christmas and New Year's, the summer holidays, and (in the case of Japan) around Golden Week. If you have a lot of flexibility as to when you can travel, then you should have plenty of options.

Alright, so I live in North Carolina, so I am going out of the Charlotte airport.
Is there a solid option for me to be able to get 1 round trip ticket a year from now? Maybe by signing up for 2-3 different cards?
I don't really travel much, so I probably wont be able to do this year after year. But just getting 1 ticket would be nice, as they are extremely expensive.

Extremely expensive??? I just checked EF. Currently AA and UA are selling tickets LAX-NRT round trip for $175 plus fuel surcharge and tax. So that's about $700 all inclusive.

I wouldn't even call a normal ticket for ~$1600-1800 from the east coast of the US all that expensive. In the fall, that's the fare CLT-NRT: $1126 plus tax and fuel. Seems that CLT is more expensive than IAD, which is surprising since normally hub-to-hub is more expensive.

ANA used to sell premium economy IAD-NRT for $2000 all-in. And you can upgrade this to business using UA miles, since it's in a full-fare booking class.

When I priced my upcoming trip, I found that LAX was by far the cheapest departure point for flying to Japan and that the nonstop from MSP to NRT was the most expensive option.

I am flying MSP>LAX on DL, staying overnight at an airport hotel, and still saving hundreds of dollars by flying to NRT out of LAX on UA.

When I priced my upcoming trip, I found that LAX was by far the cheapest departure point for flying to Japan and that the nonstop from MSP to NRT was the most expensive option.

I am flying MSP>LAX on DL, staying overnight at an airport hotel, and still saving hundreds of dollars by flying to NRT out of LAX on UA.

That's classic hub-to-hub pricing for DL with no non-stop competition on the route. But the cited fares for AA and UA ex-LAX are ridiculous bargains. I am sure other airline match too. I just limited my search to AA and UA.

There are 8 flights a day by different airlines LAX-NRT: UA, AA, ANA, JAL, DL, Korean, Malaysian and SQ. Competition is a good thing.

I am flying MSP>LAX on DL, staying overnight at an airport hotel, and still saving hundreds of dollars by flying to NRT out of LAX on UA.

You get what you pay for...

Last year AA and JAL had a promotion for SFO-HND and YVR-NRT. It was for flights on JAL booked with AA miles, 50k for business or 25k for coach, roundtrip, so half off. Did not include positioning flights. Who knows, maybe they will do it again this year..

Extremely expensive??? I just checked EF. Currently AA and UA are selling tickets LAX-NRT round trip for $175 plus fuel surcharge and tax. So that's about $700 all inclusive.

Sorry, but what is EF?
The cheapest prices I can see from LAX-NRT right now are over $800.
Thanks for the heads up though, it might be more realistic for me to try to save up miles for flights to LA, and then pay for the trip from LAX-NRT.

Sorry, but what is EF?

http://www.expertflyer.com/

US based carriers are the most generous. I would recommend UA. You can look up the mileage chart yourself but I think it's ~60k for economy. And they seem to have pretty good availability with 7-8 (?) US gateways to Tokyo and flights to Nagoya and Osaka as well....

Does UA still fly to Nagoya? I thought that flight was long, long gone.

Does UA still fly to Nagoya? I thought that flight was long, long gone.

It's gone. I miss the empty C.:D

It's gone. I miss the empty C.:D

Me too, that flight then shinkansen to Kyoto -- pretty sweet trip (even if I only did it once).

Interesting discussion going on here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/united-mileageplus-consolidated/1347221-despite-whining-ua-now-has-best-ff-program-usa.html