Extremely high prices to Japan from YVR
 

We just came back from flying with JAL from Bangkok to Tokyo and from there to Vancouver a few days later. Having flown with JAL a few times before, we choose them over any other airline to Asia due to the 2 - 4 - 2 configuration in Y and the great service, especially since there are always 2 of us flying.

I've been trying to make a booking to Japan (Tokyo or Osaka) in March but the pricing I get on their website is always CAN$ 1,800 each way to NRT and over CAN$ 3,000 to ITM.
Most other Asian destinations are in the CAN$ 800 range each way.

I understand that nonstop flights are priced higher but it seems like the $ 1,800 and $ 3,000 each way seems to be some kind of glitch or are they really able to charge these amounts in Economy Class. Prices have been in this range for the last 2 weeks which doesn't seem like it's anykind of computer glitch and even in mid-January prices are in this range.

Has anyone else experienced this and is this normal or simply an error in the JAL booking system?

JL hasn't filed a cheap economy fare in march for YVR-TYO (it's one of their peak seasons?)

good news, you can book the same ticket on AA codeshare for 1300 CAD ($980 USD)

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=Y...486*.USD.73486

Ahh, now it makes sense why the fares are so high.
I would book it as AA codeshare, the only concern I would have is whether I can select seats or not on that fare since JAL only allows to pre-select seats for certain booking classes and the lower once, even you are prepared to pay for it, don't allow it.
I have found that during online check-in only a handful of seats are still available, and not good ones. :)

march ~ cherry blossom season, don't expect it to be empty

you can also try to find a fare for YVR-TYO-XYZ that allows you to do a TYO stopover(typically $100). takes some trial & error

I can see that some JL fares allow 2 stopovers in each direction, one free one at 100 CAD

(XYZ being some asian destination like BKK)

Completely forgot about the Cherry Blossoms, yes that will most likely be a more busy time.
Good idea about trying YVR-TYO-XYZ since we would like to go back to Thailand or Malaysia anyway and this might work well.

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. :)

It's not just YVR and not just March though. Stabbing dates at random YVR-TYO in January only has YEWXDJF filed (1/16-1/29).

I was griping about this in the lounge thread, only full fares (YWJF) are being filed from EUG to TYO or OSA. Thank you paperwastage for the -XYZ suggestion! Sure enough, normal fare filings there. From JALPak in that thread, JAL has been mucking with ex-US fares, & sounds like also ex-CA as well.

Ah, didn't catch that. Yes, it's there.

Heard back from JAL

<deleted per below>

Summary is fare shown is what it is.

Was pretty much what I expected to get. $8287 is bit beyond my price range to sit in Y though.

JAL has been doing really well financially this last year and if they can sell one way fares for CAN$ 1,800 from YVR to Tokyo, good for them.
This fare is actually listed all the way from next month on and it's been like this for at least two weeks now, probably longer and it's definitely not a glitch in their system since they would have caught it by now.
From YVR there are rarely low fares, even in Economy on either JAL or ANA. I did get a great fare a couple of years ago from YVR to ITM, about CAN$ 800 which was not available to NRT but only to ITM.
Yes, there are some good fares to BKK and other South East Asian destination but on those routes EVA and China Airlines are currently priced lower in PE than JAL in which case I would choose PE.

With all the Chinese carriers offering such low fares from YVR right now it's good to see that JAL can keep it up and I would always pay quite a bit more to fly with them before I would book on a Mainland Chinese carrier.

Let's wait and see if fares change.

there are certainly cheap fares for YVR-japan(TYO/OSA) nonstop

see: ANA CAD902 /USD691
(and USD733 on JL nonstop sold by AA codeshare)

https://www.google.com/flights#flt=Y...062*.USD.69062
https://www.google.com/flights#flt=Y...358*.USD.74465

for whatever reason JL doesn't want to file a discounted economy fare for northAmerica-Japan.

maybe they're fine with people booking via AA(inferior seats for them) and push the JAL brand to be more premium (joint venture still gives JL $)

JAL is focused on japanese business travellers that don't worry about cost as long as they are travelling with JAL or ANA. There is no way to compete with this niche. If your company is cost conscious or you are on a private trip, JAL is not really for you.
You might get a good price if they cannot fill their business travellers waku, but that is not their business model!
IMO. You might think different.