Best airports for affordable China to Japan flights
 

Looking at some upcoming travel in mainland China. I have enough miles to fly US to China and then Japan back to the US. I want to spend a few days in Japan on the way back. What airports in china would tend to have the best one way fares to Tokyo/Japan? I would probably end up in the Shanghai area or cities near there. Would the cost be much different if I did a paid segment going from Japan into china?

Probably Shanghai on a budget carrier. Often good budget carrier fares from HK these days, too. If you're flexible you can probably find under US$200 r/t, all-in.

Hmm Under $200 would be ideal. I don't need roundtrip just one way. Getting to HK from the mainland is probably going to cost more then again it may be worth it to avoid the nightmare of PVG.

From Hong Kong to Japan, look at HK Express, Peach/Vanilla, and Jetstar. From the Mainland, look at Spring Airlines and those Japanese budget carriers.

No round-trip discount on budget carriers, so you can split your trip between carriers and airports.

Note too that all these carriers play wierd pricing games, so it takes some effort if you're looking for the cheapest fare.

Are they reliable? I saw some god awful reviews for Peach at least.

You can check ontime performance easily enough online. Seating tends to be very cramped on all Asian budget carriers. They are for folks who are price-conscious and willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort in exchange for sometimes very cheap fares.

Note that Peach, like Vanilla, is now controlled by ANA, and they will be merging.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ana-budget-carriers-announcement/ana-to-merge-peach-vanilla-units-to-create-japans-largest-budget-carrier-idUSKBN1GY0ON