admo415

Thinking about a trip later this year to Japan. Flying out of LAX, targeting either business or first, to Tokyo.

I am normally an American Airlines flier, but it seems as though their product from LA -> Japan leaves something to be desired.

Which airlines do folks recommend for this route when thinking about both award redemption / quality of the product? I have a significant amount of AA miles and Chase UR points if that helps point in a certain direction.

Starting to look into ANA and JAL - but curious if there are other airlines we should consider.

Thanks!

AlwaysAisle

SQ (Singapore Airlines)

I have flown them on LAX-NRT both in economy and business. I have enjoyed their flight.

s0ssos

SQ now flies LAX NRT in the 777, not A380, if that makes a difference.

NH and JL are both nice, as AlwaysAisle mentioned SQ flies it as well. If you are willing to connect then it opens up a whole load of options (if you have time fly CX and spend some time in the lounges in HKG).

If you just want to fly direct, why not do JL in one direction and NH in the other? Probably JL out of LAX (so you get the Oneworld lounge)

AlwaysAisle

I think only if you are planning on F, or Suite in SQ A380. As far as business and economy is concerned, SQ’s 777 or SQ’s A380 will be not much of difference with same hard products and same service procedure. If you are die hard airplane geek then can go on and on about the difference between 777s and A380s.

abmj-jr

If you are planning to use award miles, then JL is in American's alliance and you might find award seats. My preference is NH but they are in Star.

If you plan to pay money for your flights, I'd recommend SQ or NH.

ajeleonard

My ranking in J

JL
SQ
NH
AA
DL
UA

AlwaysAisle

Thank you for ranking DL and UA below AA. From OneWorld flyer.

If I am flying in business on my own dime, then there will be no way I will pay for AA, DL, or UA on LAX-NRT. My choice will be JL, NH, or SQ on business if I am paying out of my pocket.

Although with new system I will be earning less elite qualifying miles flying JL business class compare with AA business class as AAdvantage member, if I can afford to fly LAX-NRT on business class out of my own pocket then sure I will not be concerned much about elite qualification on FF program.

s0ssos

UR transfers to United, and you can do NH through them (and potentially SQ but would have to call in. I do not know if availbility is blocked)

evergrn

I don't know about J. But for Y, NH has been disappointing more and more. The last couple of years, their in-flight meal has gotten so bad that I would rate it no better than UA's for TPAC/Y. In fact, for the return flight from Jpn, UA's is tastier (maybe not better quality, but at least more edible) than NH's. The one good thing about NH these days is the amount of japanese programming on their AVOD, but that wouldn't matter to most other people.

I haven't flown JAL in a while. But I definitely concur with the high marks for SQ. Probably my favorite airline. Yet their LAX-NRT fares are generally lower than most other carriers for nonstop.

AlwaysAisle

Because of StarAlliance joint venture, NH and UA wanted to align their service standard. It was so much easier to lower the service standard of NH than trying to bring up the service standard of UA.

As far as JAL I am happy with their trans-Pacific economy service. I like Udon-de-Sky for mid flight snack but looks as it is only for premium economy?

abmj-jr

I haven't flown TPAC in Y in years so cannot comment. Back then I almost always flew UA for the E+ leg room. For the same reason, I avoided the Japanese carriers as they tended to be more cramped.

My most recent flights in J on NH have been quite nice.

evergrn

The new thing that I noticed this year on NH's long-haul 787 in Y are the foot rests and live TV (CNN, NHK). So that's nice. On the other hand, the current Y meal is far inferior to several years ago. They took another incremental dive this winter with the introduction of boxed breakfast with terrible sandwich as the 2nd meal of the eastbound flight. More than anything, the seat width is unbearable on their 9-abreast 787.

A lot of the TPAC flights I fly on NH are UA codeshares. EVA and SQ still deliver quality Y product... and they're not UA codeshares (at least the routes I fly most often). Could it be that Star flights that are UA codeshares are obligated to stoop down to UA's standard?

For sure. Unfortunately I have not gotten an upgrade in a few years now.

milepig

Really? Do you have anything to back up this statement?

jib71

The "Big Grin" smiley and the "Stick out tongue" smiley are the crucial endnotes to back up that statement.

s0ssos

I presume the "stick out tongue" belongs to NH and the "big grin" to UA?