Originally Posted by
Random Flyer
I accept what you say but won't the lower Japanese costs actually be offset by increased fuel bills, due to USD pricing? I don't think you can brush this aside, particularly for long routes like this. And the Yen may be at a four year low but it is not historically low. I certainly recall getting more Yen for my Dollar when I was staying in Tokyo about 12 years ago!
The dollar is historically low over the past few years, relatively
. And also, perhaps the US carriers carry more price-sensitive customers? I'm assuming, given the choice, that most of the ex-Japan customers would take JL or NH, particularly the ones paying for business/first class. I feel, at least for J/F, this might be the case ex-USA as well. The US carriers also serve some smaller points to/from NRT (this is mostly UA and DL here) that JL and NH don't serve (PDX, DEN, etc.). Those smaller markets are also likely more price sensitive and don't draw quite as high of a fare, compared to the larger NYC/LAX/SFO/etc. markets that are served by JL/NH and US carriers. NH serves SJC/SEA and JL serves BOS/SAN of course, but those are flown with the more fuel-efficient 787, as compared to the larger 777s/747s or older and less efficient 767s that DL/UA/AA deploy on these routes.