w0r1dtrave1er

Amazing fare, thank you OP!

peachfront

OK, final update for the night...whewwwww. We have a winner. Trip is booked!!! Sanity prevailed and I decided I could not really afford the two week trip I was talking about but I have at least grabbed a few days. I got the $517 price and assume I will only earn miles on the DL coded portion, JFK-KIX and back...but it's still a nice chewy chunk.

Have not visited Tokyo before, only Nagoya and Kyoto. Leaving JFK on May 24, Leaving Tokyo on May 29. Will likely spend a couple, three days in NYC on either end of the trip to spend some of that Delta voucher I didn't spend at Vayama. Anyone want to meet up or recommend an airbnb, let me know!!!

Getting excited now. A bit pooped. Will book the positioning flights to NYC later or tomorrow.

Thanks to the OP, you are my hero of the day.

TAWS

Doesn't spending money on the positioning flights pretty much negate the savings?

jim5518

Seems to be a mistake fare at this price. You might want to make sure it`s ticketed before booking more flights. Great fare

KissFlyGoodbye

You think he'll find something out of MSY that low? In his case, I would just use miles to book the positioning flights: can be cancelled and refunded and domestic awards on DL would cost him $3.

peachfront

P.S. Final final really final update, my tix are already showing in the system at Delta.com

Also, I have vouchers I should use, and I was thinking to take a trip to NYC anyway, so the positioning flight itself won't cost me anything. I guess the NYC portion of the trip will be somewhat pricey but oh well!

Jerry1919

Peachfront ..I've never used Vayama. can it be cancelled . I can't find the fare on DL .. might someone guide me? Thanks for your help

DL0620

The fare I found is
PERMITTED 26APR 12 THROUGH 31MAY 12 ON THE OUTBOUND
TRANSPACIFIC SECTOR.

Also good from Seattle for $566 (initially shows up as $546). The big V is forgetting something. Should work on similar fares with similar rules and carrier combinations. Wish I had time to research!

mspflier

So what if I were to fly the JFK-KIX and KIX-JFK legs (segments 1 and 4) on this tix but stay in Osaka and not fly KIX-HND and HND-KIX. Since the carrier is NH and JL on a different alliance for segments 2 and 3, would DL find out about it when I showed up at KIX for segment 4?

Thanks.

DL0620

Yes, DL would almost certainly find out and cancel your return leg.

Wish I had time to make this work directly from MSP . . .

golfingboy

In many cases where one lives in a non-hub city, 5-7CPM is worthy of a trip. Even, if that means the MR or cheap trip we want to take is in the 3-5 CPM range, but the positioning cost is a little steep, it is still worthwhile for us.

I lived in LA for 6 years where my average mileage run was around the low to mid 3 cents, but now I live in PIT, my average MR is 5-6 CPM. It is amazing how the "standard" changes when one has limited vacation and is stuck out of a high priced origin.

Avster

Can someone spell out dates they have found on DL???

I cant seem to find anything less then $1500 out of JFK!

UPDATE: Have used Vayama and see May 17 - 21 coming up at $517!

Anyway to book this through delta directly???

whoffie24

Great find. Thanks OP!

I'm seeing if I can make the dates work. I've never been to Japan.

hhhhkk

Found it in Vayama. Thanks

peachfront

My dates are May 24-May 29. I found several others, such as the original May 17-May 21 that was posted. Also found a way to extend the trip into June but decided the cost of hotels might make this a little steep for my humble vacation...

I could not figure out how you would book directly at Delta without calling Delta and asking about their Best Fare Guarantee, which I suspect is in violation of the "Do Not Call the Airline" rule. The price is already decent, so why play around for a $100 guarantee voucher? I booked at Vayama. It popped up at Delta.com almost immediately. I got an email confirming my purchase from Vayama almost right away, and a second email with my ticket, receipt, etc. this morning. $517 is a nice price but it is not "mistake fare" nice, as I have traveled to Japan previously for about the same price or maybe a few pennies less. I'm not seeing anything particularly weird about this deal. For some reason, Japan airfares sometimes go on sale in May. That's when I got my previous deal to Nagoya. So there's probably a seasonal pattern for those who are more "in the know."

I have now purchased my NYC tix using a voucher. I even have $$$ left to spend on another flight. I was thinking to visit NYC anyway. At first, I thought about doing the SAP trip, EWR-SAP for $200, but I looked into EWR and I was worried about ground transportation. JFK appears to have a train so it is more practical for me since I don't rent cars when I'm tired.

I think it will be nice to tick off two major cities off my list, New York and Tokyo, which are pretty big holes in your list if you try to call yourself a traveler. Pitiful to have visited Niagara Falls and other rural destinations in New York yet never to have seen the big city.

If others are doing this run, feel free to let me know. Maybe we can share information, meet up at a club for a drink etc. As a Gold, I think I may have some club room access somewhere along the way. Will be looking into that...

It appears I will earn around 13,000 miles on the JFK-KIX-JFK version. No miles for me on the local legs KIX-HND-KIX. Another 3,300 miles getting back and forth to NY. So as a Gold 32,000 miles picked up for an upcoming project of the approximately 60K I think I will need plus an interesting trip.