So, there is little to no leisure/discretionary travels to Japan.
I'm going next week. We have other friends who are going in March. And not for business. It's purely a vacation to visit family there.
Now, cheap fare is possible only if the flight is full.
Quite the opposite. Cheap fares are only possible, if there is a possibility that a flight isn't going to be full. If an airline believes a flight will be full, they are less inclined to offer cheap seats.
I don't blame them. I would just expect some sort of honesty. And especially, when the airlines makes a change, by their own choice,
it should NEVER cost a passenger more. The Haneda change is purely a consolidation change.
If someone has paid $X to fly from A to B, and the airlines, by choice, not circumstances, decides that B won't be a destination. that you must go from A to C, the passenger should be entitled to:
1) Expect the airline to honor the original flight OR
2) Expect the airline to take them from A to C, at ZERO extra dollars, including fare basis increases OR
3) Expect a Full cash refund (not flight vouchers)
End of story