blitzen

Hi,

Liked my Japan so much I'm slowly planning for a trip in 2020 (avoiding the Olympics) in First if possible. A few questions:
- EWR is closest but most planes leave from JFK > and if it is not a direct flight the first leg see to be almost always economy > any booking engine where I can avoid that?
- have United miles, Alaska, MR .... and should be able to get more miles as needed > which are the best options EWR/JFK to Japan in general (beside Virgin Atlantic miles on ANA)
- not interested in Tokyo anymore I want to visit Okinawa and another place (open to suggestions .. did Tokyo/Kyoto/Nara/Hakone/...)
- when to start searching in earnest? 330 days out?
Maybe Japan Airlines using Alaska Miles?

jib71

Roughly what dates do you have in mind. Considering that the olympics will be in July-Aug, and then the Paralympics are in Aug-Sep, I guess you're looking at late Sep 2020 or later? My experience of olympics is that there's a pretty wide window of disruption to prices etc.. Bear in mind that Sep-Oct is close to peak time for Typhoons, which can hit Okinawa hard.

Based on today's schedules (which may well change by 2020), your best option from EWR is probably UA from EWR to NRT, followed by a domestic flight with ANA from NRT to OKA.
If you' re looking to avoid NRT altogether, then you could consider flying to Seoul and connecting to minor Japanese airports from there. But I don't see a good way to do that with the mileage programs that you listed. (Although I'm not sure what MR stands for).

Are you looking at the available flights one year out from now?
The folks on the relevant airline forums can probably give you up-to-date tips on how to get the reward flights that you want.

Of course, it depends on what interests you. If you like historic cities, I'd suggest Kanazawa and Takayama. If you like being outdoors and you want to stick with small island experiences, you could check out Yakushima and southern Kyushu. Depending on the timing of your trip, you might catch the autumn foliage on Miyajima (Hiroshima) or somewhere... Endless possibilities.

blitzen

Yes I was thinking Fall of 2020 the month etc would depend on where we going and availability

MR = Amex points. UA from EWR to NRT is a option but a) it is UA and b) they sometimes charge a lot of miles > compared to ANA First etc. so it is an option if they get their game together and the new seats etc are installed (ANA first spoiled me). NRT is fine just have no interest in Tokyo sightseeing again

I looked at some and ANA and Japan Airlines JFK-HND/NRT are in general available. Think from LA or SFO there was a direct flight to Okinawa (KIX?) but the connecting flight was in economy (using ana and UA to check).


Right now I'm just collecting ideas to look into. Places that people really like etc.

jib71

KIX is Kansai (Osaka's international airport). AFAIK, there are no non-stop flights from the US to OKA. You will need to connect at one of the major airports (e.g. KIX, HND, NRT, NGO) on mainland Japan or fly via Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei etc.
I suggest you get a guidebook to get a feel for what's out there.

abmj-jr

If traveling in later fall (Oct-Nov), I'd suggest looking at Hokkaido (Sapporo, Hakodate, etc) as an alternative to Okinawa. I'd also highly recommend ANA over UA for premium cabin travel to Japan if you can find it. JAL is also a good alternative but is not in Star Alliance.

To my knowledge, there are no non-stop flights from USA to Okinawa. Connections are almost always going to involve economy seating on the local segments. That is one reason I chose to arrive/depart Japan from NRT when visiting Hokkaido. At 6'-5", I'd rather do 7-8 hours on the shinkansen than 2-3 hours in economy on a domestic carrier. YMMV.

Kannai

While you can probably arrange a domestic stopover on a single ticket, don't forget that domestic tix with UA miles on NH (ANA), which need to be purchased at least 4 days in advance, run 5,000–8,000 miles one way, depending on the distance.

Also, Both NH and JL sell deeply discounted tickets to foreign visitors. Just book via their international website. Those tickets require airport checkin, theoretically to check your passport to be sure you're a foreign visitor. Sometimes the tickets are a third the price of the fares I have to pay because I live in Japan.

paperwastage

if you can get SPG points (and transfer to JAL), and get on their discounted offpeak round (only 120k roundtrip, or 100k SPG points, assuming they extend it into 2020 and you dont hit the blackout dates)

https://www.ar.jal.co.jp/ar/en/jalmi.../miles_ar.html