Tips for NRT (+ GUM)
 

I don't consider this pure höpöhöpö and don't know where else to post, but I'm looking for some advice. After seeing some videos, I got this crazy idea of visiting Guam (GUM). It seems to be most easily done as HEL-NRT-GUM, where the second leg is only some 3.5 hours on JAL.

Obviously, the AY website is unable to sell such a ticket :rolleyes: As does the either very complicated, or very Japanese, or both, JAL website. So far, the best I've come up with for a trip next Feb is:
- BUD-HEL-NRT-HEL-BUD on AY in J for €2200 (seems the cheapest ex-Europe)
- NRT-GUM-NRT on JL in S for €447
- additional HEL-BUD-HEL in Y for €184

I have visited Tokyo once a long time ago, I liked it and am planning to spend a couple of nights there on the way out, and one night on the way back (probably in Narita to be close to the airport).

For those of you who frequently travel to Japan,
- is the JL-operated HEL-NRT-HEL flight remarkably better in J than AY?
- does AY usually sell equally priced J tickets for both flights, AY and JL operated?
- what major disadvantages do I face if flying JL-operated as AY codeshare?
- is there a pattern of promotions, should I wait or is €2200 a price good enough?
- what perks can I expect in JL Y as OWS (I'll drop down to AY Gold 31JAN, sadly), exit seats free of charge, bags etc
- any hints, tips, advice greatly appreciated; I'm not a frequent Japan traveller and know nothing about the Japanese JV etc.

(By the way, try visting jal.fi :D )

Why on earth do you want to go to Guam?
Only time I was even close was when I found a very cheap DL flight to somewhere I wanted to go, and it turned out to have a 23h stop in GUM. Dropped it like a hot potatoe!

IIRC, the JP joint venture does not rely on a coordinated ticket strategy. Each airline fly what ever capacity they like and charge whatever they like.
At least I have never seen a fare where you can route on any airline you like and any route you like. Finnair sells their usual EU-JP tickets at their usual very high prices. IME, which is not recent, you will have a very hard time finding anything from AY that goes beyond JP. However, you may very well be able to stich a 105-ticket together from an OTA.

Some answers, always IMO of course.

- is the JL-operated HEL-NRT-HEL flight remarkably better in J than AY?

No. In fact, I would prefer AY. Somehow JL service is not for me on this route.

- does AY usually sell equally priced J tickets for both flights, AY and JL operated?

AFAIK this is the idea behind the joint venture.

- is there a pattern of promotions, should I wait or is €2200 a price good enough?

I don't see any pattern.

- any hints, tips, advice greatly appreciated; I'm not a frequent Japan traveller and know nothing about the Japanese JV etc.

Tokyo is awesome! You can do things cheap or expensive, but it will still be awesome, if you just adjust your plans accordingly. What kind of interests do you have? Hotel preferences?

I would travel to Okinawa, but I've never been to Guam so maybe I just don't know what I am missing.

Oh, yeah. If you do airport hotels. Hilton is much better than Crowne Plaza.

Save yourself 170€ - take a oneway positioning to BUD, 19.000p + 14,95€ and just throw away the last HEL-BUD leg on the main ticket.

I wasn't much impressed with JL C HEL-NRT, but that was years ago, they might have a better hard product now

2200€ now seems to be the lowest for ex-BUD(/PRG/WAW) to NRT (I'm also searching) other JPN destinations (KIX, NGO, FUK) are somewhat lower, see if there are flights to GUM from those. Another option is obviously to forget ex-BUD, buy the cheapest Y ticket to JPN ex-HEL (should be 800€ range) and upgrade with vouchers/points.

Throw away over 4000 tier points? Sounds crazy.

Finnair has 3-4 times a year fare sales to Japan. During the sales AY usually sells Y tickets to NGO, KIX & FUK for 549 € and NRT for 599 €. In 2014, 2015, 2016 & 2017 Finnair had fare sales to Japan in August. I would check the expiration date of the J fare.

Even worse - for ffay005 it would be 5k, as he's Plat...

The other option is of course to use the last leg as the positioning flight for the NEXT long-haul - I do it less today than a year or two ago, but if you can line up your longhauls, it works out beautifully ^

Yet another option to look into: AY (xxx)-HEL-ICN (cheaper than NRT, same earning) + JL ICN-NRT-GUM to see if JL also prefers connecting pax vs captive locals.

ffay005 told us that is going to Gold 31JAN and Japan is going to happen in February. But anyway 4000+ tier.

I have one BUD also and today need to find out how to solve it.

I'm IN BUD now, result of a BUD-HEL-SIN-PER-ASP-BNE-AKL-HKG-HEL-BUD tournée :) And no, I didn't look up "Notre Dame of BNE and her annual pilgrimage with bikers to RVN and BER" :D

AY have good reward availability to BUD 19k+15

While in Japan, I once made an extended weekend to GUM from KIX. Great place for a visit! However, my KIX-GUM was by Korean Airlines...

Thanks for all your help, guys! Much appreciated.

Intuition, basically the reason was this video I knew Guam existed, but had never reflected over what kind of a place it might be. I find it fascinating that there’s a small piece of USA in Asia – the same way that I find Gibraltar exciting. I once spent a holiday there, flying BA to and from GIB, without even stepping my foot on Spanish territory. After some additional googling, it seems that Guam might be a nice enough place to visit with good and relatively inexpensive hotels. Ukki, if you can take the time and just briefly tell us what you did in GUM, I’d appreciate it!

It’s good to hear that there’s no point in trying to be on the JL flight to NRT. I guess HEL is not a prime destination for JL whereas NRT very much is a prime destination (at least pricewise) for AY. I’ll wait till August (thanks Miikkak) to see if they have any campaigns and if not, then I’ll just book, hoping the €2200 price doesn’t increase. I think it’s a reasonable price to pay for a nonstop to TYO (okay, nonstop as in stopover at HEL…).

I’m not a BUD fan at all, and would otherwise consider Wilco’s suggestion for a oneway award, but I’m going to need a whole lot of tier points next tracking period. My strategy is to burn points now, letting myself slide back to Gold, and then burn money next year trying to reach Platsku again. I hope this strategy lets me avoid personal bankruptcy… Also, upgrading a Y ticket to NRT isn’t a good option this time because I am going to need every tier point I can get, and then some. Probably some DEL runs needed in January 2020, too…

JL only flies to GUM from NRT, so considering other Japanese cities isn’t really an option. I’m not a big fan of connecting and, if possible, prefer stopovers instead of layovers. Layovers always seem to be either too long and boring, or too short and risky. ICN was an interesting alternative that I checked after seeing on the GUM wikipage that there are direct flights to ICN. It would be €700 cheaper, with RIX-HEL-ICN and direct flights ICN-GUM, but the schedule of the directs is absolutely terrible with a 2 am arrival in GUM and a return from 3 am to 7 am on the way back. €700 is a lot of money but I’m afraid I would spend most of that on extra hotels just because I don’t want to arrive in ICN at 7 am, after a sleepless night, with nowhere to go for 7 hours etc. A young Ffay005 wouldn’t have hesitated, but unfortunately he’s not that young anymore…

Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to book so I'll keep researching a bit more.

Last year stayed at the Narita Tobu Hotel - I recall the logic was that I could walk to the LCCT for meetings there. Price was good and they have a shuttle to Narita town & local attractions (plus the airport of course as well).

Have stayed at the Hilton earlier, and likely to be a bit 'better' option - but Tobu Hotel was perfectly fine.

The terminals at Narita obviously have plenty of options for food (and shopping) landside.

OK, now I want to go to Guam also :)

I checked out of curiosity the Guam Marathon... looks great but likely not yet in 2019.