Japan Avios

[ekposh]

Hi

Anyone have any tips on best use of Avios Manchester to Japan? Looking at PE minimum x 1 person.

Any tips appreciated.. Like Qatar better value over BA, JAL from London… Essentially if anyone has any hacks or best value, please let me know.

Thx

[memesweeper]

Not sure about JAL but Qatar don’t have PE. You’re probably stuck with BA.

[JABS]

Have done JAL PE and the ones I’ve had have been very uncomfortable. They were the sliding seats on recline, don’t impinge on customer behind but I don’t find they are as nice as normal recline seat that you get on BA.
That said, JAL food is excellent in both PE and Econ.
I’d stick with BA PE if you can get, it or Qatar in Bus if that is available (as fewer miles needed than BA CW/CS).
Or if you can do a positioning flight look for BA PE from places like Dublin/Amsterdam (via LHR) and you can pick up some good PE prices.

[ekposh]

Thanks! Sorry wasn’t being clear. What I should have said is premium or business (not economy).

I always feel like availability and Avios is chepeer on Qatar but don’t know.

I assume some of the best value out there would be Madrid-Tokyo, if only Iberia restarted that route.

[meta]

Helsinki to Haneda on JAL or Finnair is also quite reasonable. 77.25k Avios plus about £260 in fees one-way booked via BA.

[Gavin454]

I booked the direct BA LHR to HND flight using Avios for the first time for my trip this winter (which I’m currently on), it’s the first time I’ve felt Avios to be reasonable value compared to paying cash due to flights becoming more expensive recently. Out in CW and back in WT+. Previously I’ve always either booked premium economy and upgraded using Avios, or flown in busines ex-EU (both BA and JAL).

Pre-pandemic I would generally target £800-900 for a WT+ direct booking, or £1400 for an ex-EU business class booking – both may no longer be attainable!

If you manage to grab a cheap fare to another city in Asia such as Hong Kong or Seoul, you might be able to book a good value connection on JAL using Avios.

[Jon]

I was looking at this the other day, albeit from London not Manchester. Not sure when you’re going but I was looking at Oct/Nov/Dec. My observations:

Seems to be a fair bit of availability direct LHR-HND and back, on JAL, in both Business and PE, a few F, and one or two on BA. Also indirect via Frankfurt with BA for the LHR-FRA bit, albeit at higher cost.

I had thought Japan would be one of those places where it’s cheaper to book two one-ways, but no – it’s about £50 cheaper as a return. 185500 Avios plus £775 versus 92750 each way and £500 out, £320 back (for Business – fewer Avios for PE but as the taxes etc are the same, I’d find (buy, even) the extra Avios to go in Business if there’s availability on suitable dates).

Cash prices are absurd (the same flights were pricing up at around £6000 return and £3-4000 each way separately). Cheaper to buy the full amount of Avios needed!

But as @Gavin454 says, if you can get a cheap cash fare to somewhere nearby – and I see today’s article covers a Finnair sale that includes Hong Kong and Seoul – then HKG-TYO return in Business prices at around 50000 Avios plus £110 (can’t find anything from ICN from a quick look just now on BA.com though). And of course you’d earn, what, 10-20k Avios each way on the longhauls.

Another (relative) sweet spot I found, albeit cash not Avios, was Osaka – London on MH, via Kuala Lumpur (with a stopover if you wish) at £1800 in Business. I was tempted to combine that with an Avios redemption on JAL direct LHR-HND for the outbound, but in the end went with a cash open-jaw on Finnair (£3300), out to Tokyo and back from KL via Singapore, with a redemption KIX-KUL using MH Enrich miles, as that suited plans better.