ual744777sta

Does anyone know if you can do a turnaround transit?

Kmxu

The problem is that we do not know when Japan opens to US citizens.

uxb

​​​​​
Based on a cursory search, MIA appears to be the cheapest. $334 r/t. Stopovers in DFW of 90 mins each way. There are some fares which include a leg on JAL. It's $210 more, but they OPUP OW elites, so it might be worth considering.

yuel

thats why you book at the 6-10 months out hoping it opens, I just cancelled our trip in June that I booked last fall for $300 on the last Japan sale hoping it would open, but NOPE! so dont take my advice

downinit

You will not be allowed to board unless you are admissible into the country you are flying into. MR are not considered a valid form of travel, and having a return flight will not matter. If you are not eligible for entry into Japan, you will be denied boarding at the point of origin.

Kmxu

I booked PHL-KIX on UA for $260 at the end of schedule (next March). I booked CLT-HKG on UA for $320 in January-February, 2022. The interests on these bookings are minimal. I just lend UA money for 9-11 months interest-free in case that borders are not open next year.
Just cross fingers!

Carolina2Cali

What does OPUP mean? if I fly on JAL and opt for American as my program, will I earn EQDs based on distance?

futuramadramallama

I wonder if AA would allow a large reschedule based on destination-inadmissibility. (IIRC, AA's current policy would be "no" but ymmv.)

therealvash

Hello,

What will happen if I book a ticket and Japan is still closed because of covid. Will I get the money back? Am I out of luck and lose the ticket?

Edit: United

Best regards

paperwastage

you are responsible for meeting all travel/entry requirements (eg visa requirement)

If japan isn't accepting foreign visitors:
​​​​​AND airline is still operating the flight, you lose the ticket (or see if you can change the ticket date)route, may incur change fees)

BUT airline cancels flight or significant schedule change: you can request a refund. What considers as significant? DOT leaves it up to the airline (typically something departure/arrival changed by >6 hour qualify)

UA currently says >2hr is significant, but they did try to change the definition during covid from 6hr to 25hr

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...g-refunds.html

https://onemileatatime.com/united-ai...change-policy/

If you have status, a smart (or stupid) thing to do is to book something with multiple tight connection. High likelyhood of schedule change affecting you. If you still want to go, use status to SDC to better flight or accept the bad connection/irrops

A13743

AA flights from DCA or IAD to Tokyo and Osaka for about $200 available until end of calendar. Flight to Tokyo on basic economy ($280 for main cabin), flight to Osaka on Main Cabin for $230.

Long transit or two domestic stops in most of flight to Tokyo. Some flights on Japan Airlines.

hopefully covid restrictions are gone by 2022. God bless!

Kmxu

Correct. As mentioned upthread, you cannot do an immediate turn around if there is a COVID restriction.

If you do not mind getting "Future flight credit (FFC)," you will get your money back for future booking, which cannot be used for another passenger but can be used for different routings and partner flights on United ticket. See this thread for details: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unit...re-waiver.html
For my booking, I expect an cancellation of SFO-KIX if Japan is not open next March. So, I will get a full refund.
This depends upon the risk tolerance level of an individual. The airlines schedule won't be finalized until 45-60 days before your trip. You can play the schedule change to your advantage. For example, my trip to Iceland has two schedule changes, which lengthened my connection times at EWR. The outbound change made me switch to IAD-ORD-KEF from IAD-EWR-KEF (fortunately, UA announced the new ORD-KEF route). The second change made me to change originating city (within 100 miles) because of shorter layover time at EWR.
I used SDC quite bit pre-COVID because of abundant flights, even out of PEK and PVG. But now, SDC is probably less useful.
Good luck, everyone!

uxb

IME, if you have OW Emerald or Sapphire, I've found that JL will upgrade you to the next class of service, so if you're flying coach, then you'll get bumped to a seat in PE. BA also does this. Of course, it's subject to operational capacity.

uxb

For anyone in the Bay Area, I've found this fare:

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...dJPRIGCAEQABgA

olouie

looks like $400+ now but still great fare, can do LAX too