jtm1631

I am looking at putting together my first trip to Japan. I have been saving miles and hotel points for years in order to fly either business or first class.

Travel dates would probably be April of 2018. We will be flying out of Denver and into Tokyo. I have the following miles banked already:

United - 600,000 miles
American - 500,000 miles

There will be 2 travelers and I have a few questions because at this point my head is spinning with all the information and options.

What airlines should I target to fly on and in what class. Untied flies the new 787 direct from Denver to Tokyo although flying through Chicago would allow us to experience the new Polaris lounge and fly a plan with First Class vs. business on the 787.

When do I start looking for award availability and how difficult will it be to get two tickets? At this point I think I'm resigned to using full miles and not saver awards.

I tried to use the BA site for JAL availability but couldn't figure out how to see award availability vs. paying fare seats and cost.

Any help to narrow down when and how to book awards would be greatly appreciated.

EDITED TO ADD: I am a Chase Mileage Plus Club card holder so I believe that gives me some additional access to awards.

nux

I would go with JAL or ANA in F. Award seats should be released for April 2018.

You need to register, login with your BAEC account and then search for award availability.

SanDiego1K

Solid advice. Both are far more aspirational in F than UA. I have found JAL availability more easily than ANA.

Yoshi212

JL, NH, SQ via ORD, SFO or LAX (only LAX for SQ).
CX via HKG (possible side trip to HKG).

You've got a little bit of a late start as awards generally open up ~330 days before travel but you're not too late either. You have to look at what you find and figure out what you want. Both programs allow for 1 way award tickets so you can use one program for each way or for such a routing at DEN-SFO/LAX-HKG(stop)-HND(stop)-ORD-DEN.

jtm1631

Yeah, I was worried about the timing. I am thinking of pushing the trip out to September of 2018 just to give me more time to plan.

I appreciate all the responses.

Duke787

Certainly not too late for April if you take a look. Some thoughts:

1) I see a ton of DEN - ORD/IAH - NRT available on NH. For the most part DEN - ORD is only available in Y but ORD - NRT is available across the board in both J and F. 75k/person each direction for J, 110k/person each direction in F. Easy to find with a quick search of random dates on UA.com. Do remember if you go out via ORD you can access the Polaris Lounge since your NH flight will depart from the UA terminal

Not getting F is less than ideal but you can ask them to put you as a displaced J passenger and you should be at the top of the upgrade list if upgrades are available (and of course can call back if J space opens). It's a 2-2.5 hour flight so not the end of the world.

2) Coming back I see similar routings with perhaps just a touch less availability and with longer layovers in the US.

3) You will not be able to book SQ J or F using UA miles from the US on LAX - TYO so that's a non-starter unless you have SQ miles (or UR / MR / TYP / SPG that you can transfer to SQ) and can book via SQ

4) Best way to search for JL space is using the AS award search tool (you can also use BA). You should search initially using gateways with lie-flat (SFO / ORD / DFW / LAX / JFK / BOS) only (aka search ORD - NRT and then search DFW - NRT, etc., etc.) and then will need to see if you can get an AA or AS flight to connect into the departing flight. You'll need to call AA to book regardless because JL can't be booked on the AA website.

5) Note that for getting to Japan using AA miles, you cannot transit HKG, if you transit HKG you will have to pay two separate awards (US - HKG and HKG - TYO) so unless you are dying to go on CX, I would not route via HKG for this.

6) Potential JL options I see plenty of space on the various gateways routes in J. It'll run you 60k/person each direction in J with no stopovers permitted (AA doesn't allow stopovers period whether a OW or RT). Trick is going to be finding DEN - ORD/DFW/LAX/SFO space on AA. Avoid the SAN and SJC routes in JL due to inferior J product but any of those 4 listed above work just fine.

7) Ditto going the other direction (TYO - US)

I've been fortunate to fly NH F, JL F, and JL J (NH J has eluded me for some reason). I loved both JL F and NH F and they certainly are very good F options (and the way to go if seeking an aspirational experience). If you can swing JL F in one direction and NH F in the other direction that would be a good way to compare. The food for both is better ex-TYO but otherwise it's a great way to compare two very good products. If you are a whisky person, JL serves Hibiki 17 in first but just Hibiki NAS in J while NH serves Hibiki 21 in F and Hibiki 17 in J.

That being said, JL J is certainly very solid, especially for overnight flights.

Feel free to PM or post for additional details / clarity / etc.

jtm1631

Wow, thanks for all the great information Duke787.

I spent some time today looking at NH outbound through ORD and JAL return.

I like the idea of going through ORD outbound for Polaris Lounge access. Tough part is 110K awards are fly DEN-ORD day 1, ORD-NRT day 2, and arrive Day 3 in Tokyo because of time difference. One benefit would be additional time in lounge prior to NRT flight. Also could see how early to get into ORD day 1 and overnight there.

I'm not overly concerned about the lack of F on the domestic leg. DEN-ORD is 2 hours so certainly acceptable to have the F on the ORD-NRT portion.

As to the whiskey question, I'm a huge fan of whiskey and already noticed those options on both NH and JAL. Will certainly be taking advantage of the offerings.

jtm1631

So it looks like I'm better served pushing things off to May. Booking F through United on ANA using Saver miles leaving on Saturday May 12th, it looks like my only option is to fly to Chicago Saturday, Tokyo on Sunday arriving Monday. That seems like too much down time between flights so...

There are open F seats on JAL from ORD - NRT on Saturday the 12th arriving Sunday the 13th. I think if I book that and then use United back from NRT - DEN on the 26th when those dates open up, I should be good. Based on my Chase card I don't think I'll have a problem finding saver award tickets on the return flight in F once they open up.

I appreciate everyone's help. Now I just need to figure where to stay in Tokyo and what other areas we will want to explore while we are there!

Duke787

Check out May 9th for an F flight via ORD on NH with just a short layover (instead of the overnight). Note that your Chase UA card does not enable you to additional award space in J or F, it only provides expanded availability to Y space by providing you access to XN.

Hotel-wise I pulled this from one of my older posts about a similar topic:

Hotel-wise, Hyatt Regency Tokyo is the best value hotel in Tokyo IMO (stayed there twice and enjoyed both time - no it's not the famous Park Hyatt but it's perfectly good for it's purpose and Shinjuku isn't a bad area to be as a jumping off point). It should be 12k/night or 6k + $75 for C&P so you could get at least 2 nights on all points and possible a 3rd if you get an additional 6 UR between now and when you start booking (or if you do C&P you can of course get more).

Hyatt Kyoto is also highly touted (never stayed there) but its 20k or 10k + $125/night on points.

Marriott and SPG also have some good hotels in Kyoto / Osaka / Toyko. Again never been so can't recommend any specifically but just don't forget to check out Marriott and the fact that you can transfer between SPG and Marriott at a 1:3 rate (so your 90k SPG is worth 270k Marriott).

I've stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Ginza - very well located (especially if you are there for the first time as I was on that trip and wanted to be near Tsukiji) but rooms are quite small. I've also stayed at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel and it was very reasonable (6k SPG + $110 USD) - hotel is a bit dated but again functional as a jumping off point. There's a brand new Courtyard Tokyo Station that's supposed to be quite nice as well though again small rooms

JDiver

I'd MUCH rather be in Japan in April than September, westherwise. (Visited many times, lived and worked there two years.)

jtm1631

May it is! I just had AA hold two tickets for me. Flying AA DEN - ORD on Friday the 11th in F. We will overnight in Chicago near the airport. I'm originally from Chicago so I'll figure out the best hotel near the closest Lou Malnati's.

We are then booked JAL in F for Satuday the 12th.

Once rewards open for the return on or around the 29th, I'll book those on ANA thorugh United.

I appreciate the hotel info. I have 400,000 Marriott points so we will probably look at Marriott and SPG first.

I've wanted to go to Japan for 20 years. It seems surreal to have it all actually coming together now.

jtm1631

Sorry, one more question. As I am waiting for our return date award tickets to become available (too soon now), I am starting to question whether I should just stay with JAL on the return.

Any opinions on preference for JAL vs. ANA F? I will be traveling with my wife so JAL does seem to have an advantage of the F suite being more open for communication with a traveling partner.

The decision will also depend on availability and what flights are available but just wondering if there is any major difference between ANA and JAL.