GabrielExea

Hey FT geniuses,

I hope starting a new thread for this is OK, there were a few questions I wasn't able to find answers for in the Wikis. I am/was trying to book a 2-4-1 redemption to any Japanese airport in late October of next year, in J or F, and unfortunately availability gets snapped up super fast. I now know that I probably should have been calling up at midnight and doing the booking the outward and return separately, but unfortunately plans were pretty fluid at that time so it wasn't an option until I had confirmed timings. I am a rubbish Bronze member by the way, so no jokers, or skipping change fees etc.

So, here are my thoughts. Firstly, it does look like availability is not too bad at T+/-6-9 months (Apr/May/Jun). Does extra J/F availability generally open up and is this more likely to be around in 6 months or so in October? Or, is reward availability in October always crazy busy regardless?

Secondly, I'm using BA Redemption Finder, and we'd fly into either KIX or HND/NRT, but it looks like KIX isn't working yet on the BARF site, it just says that it's not a valid direct route. Is there any better way to check availability in KIX than just going through BA's own website?

Thirdly, all availability chances aside, assuming I have to go as an actual paid PAX, do you know what the likelihood is of there being a decent price to any airport in Japan in J in perhaps the January sale, or closer to the time? I am getting pricing in the region of ~Ł6,000 apiece currently which is a little past my budget unfortunately.

Thanks anyone for your time if you do answer!

Gab

Pgoodall

Hi

The problem you are facing is that your are trying to travel to Japan during the 2019 Rugby World Cup so Avios availability will be non existent as you have found out.
It may be worth checking out pricing with Finnair as I believe that can be more competitive than BA.
Availabilty can open up but I would imagine that there will be a lot of people with alerts set on the BA redemption finder who will be after the same tickets.

mmxbreaks

Try BARedemptionFinder.com and pay Ł3/month for an hourly automated check.

I booked an April redemption for next year using a 2-4-1 and upgrade voucher about eight weeks ago. I was checking daily for about four weeks prior trying to find the ideal combination and the flight availability changed a lot over that period of time.

The biggest difficulty that you'll have is there are two airports: Narita (NRT) flies the 787-9, which has just eight seats in First and a relatively small J cabin; Haneda (HND) flies the 777, which has 14 seats in First (and is altogether less desirable by departure time and plane type - although it's far closer to Tokyo).

I was lucky and managed to get a split: LHR-NRT F out (overnight), HND-LHR F return (day flight). You'll just have to persevere and be flexible with dates and mixed cabin/aircraft, should anything arise.

G'luck.

GabrielExea

Ah - This shows how oblivious I am! I had no idea. That may warrant a timing change...

mmxbreaks

Ah. That changes things rather a lot, yes.

It won't stop minimum seats being released, potentially, but chances of obtaining them are slimmer.

GabrielExea

This may require a full swerve - Either early May to Japan instead or HKG / SIN. I will have to check with the boss... How easy would it be to do a reward ticket flying into HKG, transferring to SIN after say 5 days or a week, and then back to LON after another week or so? Is it possible to check/book that sort of thing online or is it something a phonecall is really required for?

hearingdouble

FlyerMU

Ah, I came here to discourage the OP from even looking (for the devious purpose of leaving more redemption availability for myself ) and have learned something useful! Time to rethink my plans too!

GabrielExea

Thanks for your help everyone - Managed to bag 24th Apr --> 7th May in F, LHR to HND, which will be mine and the missus' first experience of F. Exciting!

TedToToe

WalterPiggins

Great time to be travelling to Japan. Spring and cherry blossoms.

Just one thing to consider - the period you're travelling is Golden Week in Japan. Usually Golden Week is four or five days holiday, but next year the Japanese emperor is abdicating, so it's a special holiday. It'll probably be about a 10 day holiday period, so expect hotels to be packed and transportation to be busy. If you've got definite plans for what you want to do and where you want to go, I'd suggest booking hotels as early as possible.

GabrielExea

Thanks all,

Yes, the golden week part of it is both a boon and a curse... It should be an incredible time to be there due to the extra-long holiday period and celebrations, but we are planning to book hotels next week and having checked availability it looks like it is still good for now. Some slight premiums but nothing that is getting in the way.

We're considering heading straight to Kyoto to avoid the initial golden week exodus, then to Osaka after 4 nights, 4 nights in Osaka then back to Tokyo for a final 4 nights, doing it in this order to avoid heading back to Tokyo at the same time as all of Japan.

TedToToe, I hadn't considered early hotel check-in, as we are planning to get on the train to Kyoto (~3 hours) we will hopefully arrive in Kyoto not too early to get checked in. It's a good point though! We are probably going to try and fight through and stay up as late as possible... Some on flight napping may be in order to help us get through this!

Does anyone have any recommendations for a Ryokan in either Kyoto or Osaka? We'd like to stay in one for at least one leg of the trip as it is a quintessential part of the Japanese experience.

Gabe