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Points run to Tokyo? IS it doable and value?
I am considering a 7 day trip to Tokyo having never been to Japan. But I could do with some guidence. This is what I have found:
A BA flight is about £500 from London. Can use Avios to get up to £100 back. The total TP would be 640TP - 580 from the BUD to HND part. Hotels for 7 days - and I would like to stay that long as I have found a good reviews hotel which comes in at £1,058. Total cost roughly £3200. Is this a good price? Is this a good run? Can I make the connections? I would love some advice from those who know! Thanks. |
Originally Posted by Spinstorm
(Post 30762446)
I am considering a 7 day trip to Tokyo having never been to Japan. But I could do with some guidence. This is what I have found:
A BA flight is about £500 from London. Can use Avios to get up to £100 back. The total TP would be 640TP - 580 from the BUD to HND part. Hotels for 7 days - and I would like to stay that long as I have never been are looking at around £1300 for a 4-star. Total cost roughly £3600. Is this a good price? Is this a good run? Can I make the connections? I would love some advice from those who know! Thanks. im sure others will be along to tell you do a super complex itinerary, but travel should be a means to get there, and see something different. Japan is not cheap so keep that in mind, and a lot of the interesting cultural heritage stuff is outside Tokyo. |
Hi, I've found the flights on QR at £1450 so you may be missing out on good value. BA flight seems expensive, is it Club?
If (and that's a big if) you can be bothered, there's also an ex-DME run you can do on CX for a similar price. Those are the best prices I've seen in J for Japan so do book soon if you want to go to Japan. If you want a TP run, there's better options. |
Depending on your desired hotel quality in Tokyo, you could get a better price. I've stayed in some nicely central 4* hotels which are available on your stay dates within the range of £1000 to £1200. High luxury will obviously cost more.
This is definitely "holiday with tier points" territory, not an optimised TP run. However Japan is a great place to visit if you've never been there before, so as a holiday with benefits this is looking good. |
Originally Posted by thebigben
(Post 30763503)
Hi, I've found the flights on QR at £1450 so you may be missing out on good value. BA flight seems expensive, is it Club?
If (and that's a big if) you can be bothered, there's also an ex-DME run you can do on CX for a similar price. Those are the best prices I've seen in J for Japan so do book soon if you want to go to Japan. If you want a TP run, there's better options. I have a feel that price is for dates that weren’t available to me. It seems like a lot of hassle to take 3 flights - I’ve never changed so often. Obviously the point is to maximise the TP as well. It includes a 7 hour layover in Doha. I read in the Qatar thread that the first class lounge can be purchased access to for £50 and it may be possible to get a sleeping room. Coming back the layover is 2.5 hours. |
It's not a particularly good deal IMO. I paid £1,500 AMS-LHR-NRT-FRA-LHR on BA and JL last year. I've seen London-Tokyo for £1,400 on Air China in the last 12 months, obviously no avios but no need to position to Budapest either.
flatlander put it best - this is a holiday that happens to come with a slug of tier points I find western hotels in Japan to be overpriced and/or dated. My advice would be to stick to mid-market Japanese brands which will always be spotless and are quite a cultural experience. |
Sorry to offer a none OW option, but this looks nice and comfortable for £1400 on Etihad (rather convoluted return journey...) but great mix of aircraft
https://www.google.com/flights/#flt=...0*2.GBP.143490 |
If you really (REALLY) want those TP, go for it. But, I can guarantee you that going via BUD and DOH it's a long journey, especially on your way back when the holiday excitement is over (I did it in economy a few years back only £270 rtrn).
Personally, even though it is business or Qsuite on Qatar, I'd take a flight from LON to Japan non-stop in economy. After all, you are not that long in Japan either, and it's a great country, especially during your first visit. In Japan, go for Japanese hotel chains, they are much cheaper than European/US chains. Their rooms are not big, but hopefully you should only be in there to sleep.
Originally Posted by ajeleonard
(Post 30763972)
It's not a particularly good deal IMO. I paid £1,500 AMS-LHR-NRT-FRA-LHR on BA and JL last year. I've seen London-Tokyo for £1,400 on Air China in the last 12 months, obviously no avios but no need to position to Budapest either.
flatlander put it best - this is a holiday that happens to come with a slug of tier points I find western hotels in Japan to be overpriced and/or dated. My advice would be to stick to mid-market Japanese brands which will always be spotless and are quite a cultural experience. The money you save, use it for a cheap TP run to the USA. |
If no flexibility on dates, then this might be a good way to pick up TP. I have myself pondered going west for TP, but personally I do mind short hops, and think US immigration can be a pain. So rather go east, with a great airline like QR, if all works, not to many changes, quite straight fwd, and actually going somewhere not only for the tp.
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BUD-NRT is available cheaper for 9-16 Apr or 15-22 Apr trips. Availability is not very broad. However I can suggest (as an alternative) departing from AMS if you want broader dates. There's another fare on BA/AY/JL which starts at £1,754 and I'm pretty sure you can squeeze just as many TP out of it if you're willing to do a few stopover.
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If you think outside the box, you might find somewhere in Asia where you can get cheaper, spend some avios to get around Asia. I booked myself to ARN - SNG for 1300gbp, from there it is a short hop to TYO. I know that those fares are gone, but from there to TYO should be very doable, just as a thought. No need to go directly.
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Originally Posted by Knodde
(Post 30764144)
If you think outside the box, you might find somewhere in Asia where you can get cheaper, spend some avios to get around Asia. I booked myself to ARN - SNG for 1300gbp, from there it is a short hop to TYO. I know that those fares are gone, but from there to TYO should be very doable, just as a thought. No need to go directly.
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Originally Posted by Knodde
(Post 30764144)
If you think outside the box, you might find somewhere in Asia where you can get cheaper, spend some avios to get around Asia. I booked myself to ARN - SNG for 1300gbp, from there it is a short hop to TYO. I know that those fares are gone, but from there to TYO should be very doable, just as a thought. No need to go directly.
That is cheap to SIN but SIN to Tokyo is still around 7hrs flying time which I do not think is a short hop ( unless you mean Saigon?) Regards TBS |
Saigon (SGN) is not that much closer to TYO than SIN (Singapore), it's 5 hours or 6.5 hours.
It might be cheaper to fly from SGN to TYO than SIN to TYO but it's not much faster. SIN is also a seamless entry for most nationalities, Vietnam has visa invitation letter hassles for visa on arrival for many nationalities. SGN maybe cheaper than SIN to get to, but the hassles are not less. In April, I'm not seeing less than £1800 on Oneworld ARN-SGN and then there's the onward flight. Not looking like a winner to me. |
5 hours in BUD is horrible. I understand you build in extra time to account for delays, but it's really a poor airport to wait in the non-schengen side. The lounge is atrocious, though at least it has good views.
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