jellybelly_801

Hi, this is my first time posting here. It's been a while since I have done a US flight to Asia (and never one from the east coast). I am looking at tickets for December 2020 (around Christmas to New Year) to fly my family of 4 from DC to Tokyo. Tried award tickets through AA, but the dates available with the milesaver awards on JAL economy did not work (would waste 4 days of potential vacation time along with having 6+ hour layovers each way) and the PE awards are just too high. I am looking at maybe 12/18 to 1/1, and am seeing flights going from DCA to HND (connecting through ORD or DFW with a 1.5 hour connection time outbound to Tokyo and a 3.5-4 hour connection on the inbound from Tokyo). Price is $8725 for 4 premium economy RT tickets. The ORD/DFW to HND legs are operated by JAL and are in PE; the AA legs from DCA are in economy. Right now, they look to be cheaper than booking directly on JAL for those flights. Is the price fair for the 4 PE tickets? Also, is it worth the extra over economy? Thanks in advance for any advice.

manilabound

PE through AA direct is usually under W booking code (full fare). If you try re-pricing the same PE iti through a third party like onetravel.com, you’ll get same flights under booking code P and around $1000 less per ticket.

xliioper

Those dates are peak demand times and I doubt you'll see much cheaper than that. DL/UA have fares in the $1700 range roundtrip, but they require departures on or before Dec 6th, so would not be valid for your dates. Not sure where you are seeing the cheaper JAL fares (ITA Matrix show roughly the same fares). The AA P fares look to be cheaper than the cheapest coach fares available on your date. They have coach fares out of PHL for roughly $1300 roundtrip on your dates.

jellybelly_801

Thanks. I saw the fare for DCA-ORD-HND RT through Google Flights and put it on hold on AA this morning. The ORD-HND leg is the AA codeshare operated by JAL, and it says I would need to call JAL for seats. Booking class in Y for the DCA-ORD economy legs, and P for the ORD-HND PE legs. Unfortunately, I am stuck with those dates to coincide with school break. Is there a concern that I'm paying for a PE seat booking through AA, but get stuck with economy when getting seats with JAL? Unfortunately, I missed out on 4 RT PE tickets on JAL from JFK to HND for just a little less than $6k in mid/late January waiting for AA award dates to open up. Wish I had bought then. Thanks again.

fanger

I've booked JAL PE through AA on an AA ticket number before with no problem. It's very nice, older than AA PE but with better food.

mnhusker

Expedia is showing this $2181 a person for Premium Economy for the dates I selected around Christmas.

Also consider that with the Coronavirus issues that travel to the Asian Countries is likely to fall off over the next several months, likely leading to fare sales.

So you may want to consider waiting further to see if fares fall some more.

Also in that regard, get a non refundable fare, and carry travel insurance of course.

All the best.


Tue, Dec 22
From
Washington Dulles Intl. (IAD)
To
Haneda (HND)
CheapestCheapest flight
Air Canada
10:15am
IAD
To
4:55pm
HND
16h 40m, 1 stop
YYZ
Arrives Wed, Dec 23Fare Rules and Restrictions:

• Pay to choose your seat
• Bring a carry-on bag
• Pay to bring a checked bag

Hide Air Canada 10:15amflight on Tue, Dec 22and baggage fee details
10:15am
To
11:49am
1h 34m

• From
  Washington Dulles Intl. (IAD)
  To
  Pearson Intl. (YYZ)
• Air Canada 7709 operated by /AIR CANADA EXPRESS - SKY REGIONAL
• Embraer 175
• Economy/Coach (A)

Total distance
345 mi
Layover
1h 46m stopin Toronto (YYZ)
1:35pm
To
4:55pm
13h 20m
Overnight arrives on Wed, Dec 23

• From
  Pearson Intl. (YYZ)
  To
  Haneda (HND)
• Air Canada 1
• BOEING 777-300ERMealBreakfast
• Premium Economy (N)

Total distance
6,421 mi
Estimated bag feesCarry on:No feeConfirm bag fees, weight and size restrictions with Air CanadaOpens in a new window

Mixed cabin class fare

Return

Thu, Dec 31
From
Haneda (HND)
To
Washington Dulles Intl. (IAD)
CheapestCheapest flight
Air Canada
6:50pm
HND
To
9:40am
IAD
28h 50m, 1 stop
YYZ
Arrives Fri, Jan 1Fare Rules and Restrictions:

• Pay to choose your seat
• Bring a carry-on bag
• Pay to bring a checked bag

Hide Air Canada 6:50pmflight on Thu, Dec 31and baggage fee details
6:50pm
To
4:50pm
12h 0m

• From
  Haneda (HND)
  To
  Pearson Intl. (YYZ)
• Air Canada 2
• BOEING 777-300ERMealBreakfast
• Premium Economy (N)

Total distance
6,421 mi
Layover
15h 25m stopin Toronto (YYZ)
8:15am
To
9:40am
1h 25m

• From
  Pearson Intl. (YYZ)
  To
  Washington Dulles Intl. (IAD)
• Air Canada 7706 operated by /AIR CANADA EXPRESS - SKY REGIONAL
• Embraer 175
• Economy/Coach (A)

Total distance
345 mi
Estimated bag feesCarry on:No fee1st checked bag:No fee2nd checked bag:No feeConfirm bag fees, weight and size restrictions with Air Canada

jellybelly_801

Thanks, this is good to know.

EdofFX

JAL planes have better seat pitch, nicer FAs, and way better food. You can call AA reservations for JAL codeshare seat assignments. (Cannot be done online)

Abidjan

You can also tweet to AA to select/change seats.