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Did a recent four-centre trip with family members. Not going to do a full review but a few highlights/lessons:-
– Flew Finnair to HEL (Business) then Japan Airlines (First) to HND, Avios booking, separate PNRs, hand baggage only. HEL is a decent airport for transit and no drama with making the connection, we left plenty of time. I bagged a First seat several months ago, my travelling companions were in PE on Finnair until just a few days before we were due to fly, when more First seats became available. A very kind player two lent me the required Avios and I rebooked them in to join me. It was 100% worth the extra miles — “the first holiday I’ve been on where then fun started on the flight” was my son’s verdict. The plane had an old interior, the seats were massive, and the service and food absolutely the best I’ve experienced on any airline or route. Free wifi in First too, that’s nice.
– Stayed in Japanese hotels, no redemptions, but cashed in accrued Hotels.com credit to pay for all but one of them, including a ryoken. Definitely a better experience than staying in a chain I already know well.
– Most things in Japan are more or less standard developed economy pricing, except Uniqlo is significantly cheaper than the UK thanks to it just being lower priced than international branches, with tax free on top. Do not pack underwear, buy a new set! Food is also drastically cheaper across all quality levels, and there is an abundance of choice.
– Kanazawa’s garden was a last minute addition to the itinerary and a real highlight of the whole trip. Went back a second time at 6am when it was empty. Also did some shrines in Tokyo at the break of day, a total contrast to the same locations a few hours later. Thank you jet lag!
– Japan is generally super easy for travellers thanks to live translation apps — the built in Apple one on iPhones served us well. Cash is still useful in many places, as the QR code payment system (paypay) is not available to foreigners as far as I can make out. Where cards are accepted, so is Apple Pay.
– Japan Airlines took us in Business to Shanghai, again, a redemption (one seat paid with Flying Blue miles, nicely wiped out my balance with them).
– Eldest daughter joined us from the UK with an Air China flight from London in Economy. She’s a regular long haul flyer, and not prone to complaining, but rated it as dreadful all round (seat, IFE, food, service all bad).
– We stayed in the Grand Kempinski. Got an excellent pair of rooms with views, and although there were signs of an overdue refurbishment in places, I would not hesitate to go back. Perfect location, great service and bargain pricing through trip.com — thanks @JDB! Swimming on the top floor with the views from there was fabulous.
– Shanghai is not as friendly as Japan for foreigners — everyone wants AliPay, which I got working on my phone ,but defeated everyone else in the group. Card acceptance is declining to near zero outside of high-priced establishments, and cash is just a relic. Where cards do work contactless usually doesn’t. The Great Firewall and other local restrictions mean things you might take for granted, like live translation, Google Streetview, a VPN, and so on, just don’t work. I was lucky that my combination of roaming SIM and VPN did bust through back to the UK and kept most of my apps functioning, again, the younger sweepers just couldn’t do anything. Having said that, Shanghai is an amazing place and the value for money for a visitor is exceptional given it is a major international city.
– The Hilton Currensea card, which I have really struggled to get working with foreign payment gateways and intermediaries, did work with Alipay, and thus I finally hit my sign up spend target. I will not be using this product again unless/until Curve is finally closed off to me.
– Return was Finnair in PE and Business via Helsinki. Finnair through-checked the bags on separate PNRs, which was nice. The flight was overbooked in business and I was not targeted for a downgrade. The Finnair redemptions had to be made directly with them as the same availability did not show on BA, Qatar, seats.aero etc. If you are interested in the east I would recommend checking out Finnair website regularly to see what they offer for Avios as you may find something unavailable elsewhere.
I disagree on pricing in Japan. Everything is at least half the price than in the UK/EU/US apart from high ticket items and transportation. I’m not sure where you shopped that you found standard developed economy pricing.
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