Best *A flights options MSP-TKO using UA miles
 

Hi,

I'm considering using cc miles to fly to Tokyo at some point (MSP is my home airport). The first option I looked at was ANA flight 11 (ORD-NRT) in business class which was 160K. The other was Air Canada 1 from YYZ-HND. I think I'm preferring the latter as I think the menu would be more amenable to my needs (I'm a vegetarian, but I'll eat fish if nothing else is available). Also I did business on AC from MUC-YYZ and really enjoyed it (not sure if it was the same plane). Both flights are 160K miles and seem to have pretty good availability.

Besides that any other options I should look at?

Thanks

One thing to consider is that HND is much closer to Tokyo than NRT @:-)

And you can connect to any UA or NH gateway, there are plenty of choices, as well as AC from YVR and IIRC YYC (not sure off the top of my head)

And I would not rule out UA, which has Polaris from SFO IIRC, and sCO 777s from IAH and EWR as well as DremLiner from DEN, where you would get isle access in middle row in Biz. Just be careful about domestic flights - I've flown in coach intra US plenty of times on a Biz ticket :td:

Oh, and HN also flies from YVR, but of course that would require an extra connection.

Okay thanks. I also saw YUL-HND which would be on a 787-8, but would also be two less hours in business class :) I don't know if there's any substantial difference in biz between that one and the 777-300ER for AC.

edit: Just realized leaving from YUL or YVR would an extra connection as you mentioned, duh. So I'm going to scratch that one. I checked on the DEN-HND but didn't see any availiability.

I've only flown AC longhaul in Biz on 767 and was quite pleased. I would check AC forum for product comparison.

UA is a mixed bag, even in Biz.

Flown 773, 788 and 789 on NH, and that was fine, but while I like Japanese food, was not much impressed with what was on offer.

And Montreal will require a connection unless AC has a nostop to NoLa - not that familiar with AC's newtwork to know if there' a nonstop. Almost not to YVR, they only started flying to DFW this year IIRC.

I think you've identified the best options. NH will offer western meal choices.

The other possibility would be UA, which will cost fewer UA miles. Except the ORD-NRT flight, you can't be sure whether you'll get the Polaris seat, so I would avoid that. Next best would be EWR-NRT, which will have the Polaris seat and Polaris lounge, but you'd have to deal with EWR ;)

Note that if you choose AC, unfortunately you would not be able to use the Signature lounge at YYZ, as that is for paid tix only. At ORD, you could use UA's excellent Polaris lounge for your outbound (but not the return, if flying NH).

And I second EmailKid - HND is much closer to Tokyo than NRT.

Finally, it's "TYO" :)

Sorry what is NH?

Are there other star alliance lounges I could use at YYZ? Not that that whole thing is a big deal to me unless it was a huge layover.

Also one of the big features of lounges and biz which is alcohol does not apply as I'm a 2 mg Xanax flyer :)

Thanks for the help.

p.s. I didn't make the post title it was moved :p

NH = ANA

Yes, regualr MLL (Maple Leaf Lounge) at YYZ.

PS, at the very bottom of every FT page is a link to Glossary.

You won't find DEN-HND because it doesn't exist. All UA flights go to NRT with the exception of one of the SFO flights, which goes to HND. The way to search and get both Tokyo airports together is to use the generic IATA code for Tokyo which is TYO. That will show you both HND and NRT flights. NH has quite a few of their North America flights to HND as does AC. The convenience of using HND over NRT really depends on when your flight arrives and departs. Flights arriving too close to midnight run the risk of missing the last train into the city and flights departing before 7am have the same issue coming from the city. There are a very small handful of night buses but they are extremely limited and unlikely to take you where you really want to go (unless that somewhere is Shinjuku).

As for your vegetarian needs, you can pre-order a vegetarian meal on any of the airlines mentioned, no need to rely on what's on the menu for that purpose, though usually UA has some non-meat pasta dish on offer on the main menu in biz. NH would be the worst one to reply on for the standard menu having something vegetarian. The Japanese meal will have several kinds of seafood and the western meals are going to be some kind of meat and fish entree.

Okay thanks. I have been searching just with Tokyo so I did find the DEN-HND flight, but didn't see any award space in business.

Flying UA, DEN, IAH, and SFO-HND will all have the last generation seat. Only SFO-NRT and EWR-NRT are guaranteed the Polaris seat. I would be hesitant to book MSP-SFO-NRT due to the tight connection and risk of delays into SFO; not sure MSP-EWR-NRT can even be done same day.

If you can book MSP-YYZ-HND on AC or MSP-ORD-NRT on UA/NH, I would just do that.

Great, thanks again everyone.

I can assure you the DEN flight goes to NRT, I use it frequently. If you saw DEN-HND then it had a connection somewhere, would be SFO if UA or could be a number of options if it were connecting to NH.