Flying out of Hell
 

Trying to find any kind of good flight deals flying out of Japan to North America is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. The travel agent industry is controlled by 1 company. What's more upsetting is that this particular company (HIS) loves to advertise extremely low fares but is NEVER able to offer tickets at prices anywhere close to their ads. Booking direct through the airlines seems to be only slightly cheaper.

I am looking to find the cheapest way to fly my wife and 2 children (ages 4 & 2) from Fukuoka, Japan to Winnipeg, Canada sometime from late March thru mid-April. It would be preferred to be as direct as possible but looks like there will need to be at least 2 stopovers (Tokyo & Vancouver) via Air Canada.

I will be traveling ahead on my own with a 11-day stopover in the U.S. Since I was already going to be in Seoul, I got a US$612 China Eastern flight to LA followed by an approx. $200 flight from LA to Tampa. Then, it's about $300 from there to Winnipeg. All one-way.

But without starting from Seoul, does anyone have any suggestions how I could get my costs down? So far, the best seems to be CAN$3,489.42 from Fukuoka to Winnipeg using AC with stops in Narita and Vancouver.

Thanks.

have you looked at kayak?

I second the kayak option. I did a quite search and came up with a whole bunch of 1500USD flights.

The fares I see vary quite a bit by date, but there are several $1562 flights if you can fly M-Th.

I assume you have business in Tampa? LAX-TPA-YWG isn't exactly a direct routing ;). And LAZ-YWG can be found for about $250 through MPS

Given what you say about flights from Seoul try looking at flying there first.

How much is the monopoly travel company advertising their flights for?

Really? I thought the industry was controlled by JTB. So does that mean it is a duopoly?

I do agree with you, fares ex-Japan are in general a rigged game. For example, NRT-HKG-NRT could be as much as twice as expensive as HKG-NRT-HKG for the same flights, the same booking class, the same airline, and the same booking engine.

Thanks for the posts. To answer to some of your responses... First, $1500US is not so good. I could fly Fukuoka-Winnipeg via Narita & Vancouver on AC for about $1159CAD. But that's as good as it gets. Multiply that by 3 and it's about $3500. Remember, I only want one-way tickets.

Kayak is more expensive than the best price I found above on the AC website.

My trip to Tampa is part- business but mainly pleasure. I got a pretty good deal from Seoul to Tampa via Shanghai, LA, & Atlanta.

I looked at routing my family through Seoul. The trouble is that at that time, the flights from Japan to Seoul are VERY expensive compared to the return flights I got the first week of March (21,400 yen each return from Fukuoka on Korean Air!). Even if I could route them through Seoul, the prices from Seoul to North America are quite escalated at that time. Not an option.

JTB handles domestic flights and packages etc. HIS, which owns 98% of the agencies in Japan, including No. 1 Travel, does the international flights. No. 1 often advertises ridiculously low rates to many destinations. When you call, e-mail, or stop in for a quote, it's ALWAYS a completely different ball game. Their prices are usually 3 times higher than their ads, sometimes more. They always say that the highly discounted tickets are sold out. They always advertise FROM certain prices. In the past few years, there is absolutely no benefit in booking any flights through a travel agent in Japan --- like No. 1 Travel. Their prices are higher, they make you pay extra to use a credit card, and their service is horrible. Booking direct with the airlines is much more efficient, cheaper, and you can choose your seats etc.

I've seen ads for Tokyo-Seoul for as little as 10,000-15,000 yen! You check with them and it's always 40,000+ per ticket. They advertise to NY for 45,000 but when you check it's always 90,000+.

I hope someone finds a way to sue their asses one of these years. However, they somehow find a way to make what they do legal as is the case with a zillion other scams here.

This is the reason that FF miles fetch such high rates in Japan. You could buy (non discounted) miles directly from the airlines and still come out ahead, but discounts (e.g. 1.2 cpm or less) and we also have the Coupon Connection here.

To make a long story short, you're looking at a bit more than 30k miles per ticket (you need to find award seats, though), which are worth no more than 1.5 cpm. Even after you add in taxes, you're still under $600 per person.

Fukuoka to anywhere is the expensive part.

Have you tried Canadian travel consolidators? IACE for example? HIS CANADA or JTB CANADA has some great deals. (I know you hate HIS)

When we travel between Vancouver and Osaka. The cheap part is the Vancouver to Narita. (+-$650 CAD, all in one way) Lots of deals going around however the connections get expensive.

+1.. if redemption levels are true to this level, this would seem the best way.