pogonation

onobond

Searching ITA for your available dates and duration of stay, I see a saving of £140 starting/finishing in EDI, as you have the benefit of a direct flight to HEL, instead of routing through LHR. Also 11 nights will be cheaper than 10 (more is less!). At least 11 is what ITA says, my math says 12 nights in Japan [yet more is yet less ]

For £ 541.98 pp, you can have 7 Nov EDI-HEL-NRT (All AY) and back 20 Nov HND-KIX-HEL-EDI (first segment JL Y-klass, with more Avios and TPs, second two AY; all AY segments Q fare class), but that requires another vacation day, as you'll be arriving on 21 Nov 17.55. To get back on the eve of 20 Nov, it's some £146 more pp. Prioritizing another day off vs the cost, is the question. Maybe it's possible for you to change vacation days starting slightly later?

But, as other posters already stated. £1000 pp is not just more expensive, it's a steal. I also agree on the use of Avios, no great deal to use for WT tix. With the flights described above, there's going to be some Avios/TPs dhowing up, not any gold mine, but certainly more than flying non-Oneworld.

PM me for details of search

shnprst

ajeleonard

Thousands of people survive Cholera every day, doesn't mean it's an enjoyable experience

onobond

Oh, so sorry, AIUI you were going to Japan. The "steal" is on the other side of the counter. But do you actually think £542 is unthinkable, destination Japan, as arriving in HKG for £439, positioning costs not accounted for?

LTN Phobia

Part of the issue is that fares to Japan is generally higher than those to HKG, and has been for quite a long time. The number of seats to/from Japan is lower than to/from Hong Kong, and there are events (i.e. rugby this year, the Olympics next year) and seasonal popularity issues in Japan too (e.g. cherry blossom season).

Nearly 30 years ago I regularly paid between £1,000-1,200 return to Japan in economy class, booked well in advance when the sale was on. It's always been relatively high for fares, whereas I could get to Hong Kong and back for about £600-800 return.

Probably made worse by popularity of rugby in the UK for the time of the year you want to go this year.

McG

The other option would be to book a normal Y ticket to HKG and use Avios to book CX or JAL J from HKG to TYO return.

Cw novice

Have a look at CX MAN-HKG-HND, I got it for £1k in W for going to the RWC which I thought was a great deal. 90 minutes connection on the way out and 4 hours on the way back to fully enjoy the CX lounge offering.

Not sure about the Y cost but it is the A350 on the MAN-HKG-HND route.

I'm OWS and I think I get 210 tp and 12k avios for this.

shnprst

ajrblakey

For what its worth, i'm going to the Rugby World Cup in September, and found flights to NRT and HND particularly pricey. So in the end, I booked LHR-HKG-KIX, PVG-HKG and HKG-LHR for £536 on CX, and used 7500 Avios + £52 to plug a gap between NGO and PVG on JL.

Cheers,
Alex

shnprst

McG

Are you looking at Western hotel chains for your stay?

You may be able to get some of the Japanese business hotel chains (think Premier Inn type hotel) for a lot less.
Toyoko Inn is one of the Japanese chains. Their website has an English language version.

The rugby World Cup is being played in multiple cities across Japan.

Cw novice

Just in relation to the hotels I have managed to average £50pn almost. Good options for apartments and the "b" hotel chain is very reasonable.

LTN Phobia

Rugby World Cup move around different cities in Japan. I have posted a link to the schedule earlier in the thread so that you can have a look at gaps for Tokyo (do bear in mind that Yokohama is very close to Tokyo so it might still affect the accommodation price/availability in Tokyo on or around match days).

However, if I were in your position, I would go to Korea (Seoul) this year.
My logic is why go to Japan while it's more expensive and crowded when you could go later on (maybe next year) without those issues?

I should warn you that rooms at business hotels in Japan are really, really small, often down to 130-150 square feet including the bathroom, even for a double room. Staying in a room that small may drive you batty, especially since you won't be on your own. Should you choose to stay at a business hotel, make sure you know the room size and think about if you can cope with it for days there.

flatlander

I second the room size point. It can be mitigated by looking at hotel details - often the room size is stated and it's usually accurate. The room design is usually good, making the space more usable than one might think, but that doesn't change 13 square meter into a large room (16 square meter and up is better).

JAL is rarely the cheaper option, but they are about the only carrier with the correct (8 across) seating on some 787s rather than 9 in economy.

Via PEK (Beijing) may also be an option - UK/EU/usual-suspects can transit without visa for 72 or 144 hours (varies by passport) permitting a convenient side trip to China if you want, or you can do a short transit without visa (24h) with most passports including UK/EU/usual-suspects. Departing flights do not have to be on the same ticket.