Pointers on booking flight to Japan?
 

Hey there,

Trying to put this in the least obtrusive spot as I try to find my way. Nudge me in the right direction?

I'm heading to Japan for a month from the US. Roughly July 26-August 25. It will be the end of over two years on the road and I'd like to book a business or first class seat if possible. Once we found out we were going to Tokyo, one of my top goals was to fly "up front".

At any rate, now that I'm able to book my travel, I'm trying to zero in ways I might be able to achieve my goal. To that end, I would appreciate any information you might be able to point me toward. Any pointers? I'll poke around flyertalk and such, but here's my first try and gettin this all together.

Cheers!

Questions:

What class of fare would I need to buy to be able to upgrade with miles?

Newbie as far as looking for possible award inventory or the like. Call up Delta and see what all is out there?

Who/where should I be looking to for help? Any sort of good service/person(s) I could lean on a bit (or even throw some paypal toward) to help figure out the best ways to proceed?

This is annoyingly open for a question, but should I head somewhere else for a week or two after work ends in Tokyo? Vietnam? Thailand? (If you've a great idea, please let me know). As of yet, I don't have a time I need to be back in the states.

Givens, for what it's worth:

For timing, the itinerary that was offered to me was
JAL 061 7/26 1:45 LAX-NRT
JAL 062 8/25 5:25 NRT-LAX

I want to fly Delta, and my origin city need not be Los Angeles. I'll likely be in Seattle or New York at the time I need to leave.

I can arrive in Japan earlier and leave later.

Delta Platinum - 170-180k miles avail
50k Starwood points avail

Starwood Amex
Delta Reserve Amex

Just using delta.com, I'm seeing First/Business from July 23 to Aug 26 at low saver award levels LAX-NRT. That's 140k miles + $50. You do have a 18hr+ layover at msp on the way back which sucks a little.

Using kvstool, I see China Southern Business as saver fares on both dates. You should be able to duplicate this on AF/KL's websites.

Not sure if you have this, or you are allowed to book using your own miles or whatever, but you can go to Tokyo one way in Business on JAL for 50K AA miles (45 if you have the CC) which is an absolute steal. Hopefully the plane you're on isn't fitted with the angled flat seats as those are pretty uncomfortable.

Pointers on booking flight to Japan?
 

if you want to fly Delta do yourself a favor and fly upper deck on the 747. Having flown the 777 and the 767 I think it is well worth the extra effort even if you have to connect through ATL.