Using Avios to get First to Japan? Suggestions???

[nwoody2001]

Hi Team,

Seams getting between the UK and Japan in First is a whole new ball game pre/post covid with Japan probably being the slowest country to open up and re-instate routes and capacity. In 2020 I had a Japan itinerary booked flying BA First outbound and JAL First Return, Cathey (First) and Qatar (Business) we also decent options. Now, BA doesn’t offer First to Japan having lost tonnes of their long haul capacity (though reports suggest this is to be re-instated but not seen anything yet?) JAL and Qatar has very limited availability (not seen ANY JAL First availability on BA from either LHR/CDG) and Cathey seems to be a shadow of its former self…

I had been looking to go next spring but seems ive missed the boat regarding availability so am considering Sept’24, which is also timely as this is when i have a BA Amex 241 due to expire. Solo traveller here and happy to be flexible on routing and dates and have circa 250k Avios and 200k Virgin Miles to play with.

So suggestions on a post card please?

– Have BA put out the new First Seats on sae yet or have they just been snapped up?
– I believe JAL only offer first from LHR and CDG or are there any other routes i should be looking? Not seen any availability on any dates yet…
– Have Cathey gone down as far as i hear? are they worth flying first and if so from where?
– ANA is an option but believe this is only bookable over the phone and have to snap it up a year ahead?
– Are Finnair worth shout (business only i know) but again, not found much availability.

lots of questions i know but be good to hear your thoughts.

Cheers
Neil

[BA Flyer IHG Stayer]

Even getting club to Tokyo is a challenge with people booking them almost a year out as soon as they are released.

F is even harder as there is no guarantee of any release of seats and if they do they drop randomly.

[NorthernLass]

Echoing @BA Flyer above, I would book CW seats as soon as you see them – the 241 may well unlock extra availability. Then set up an alert for F and see if you can upgrade if it does appear. Is BA using an aircraft with an F cabin currently on this route though?

[nwoody2001]

refering this this @NorthernLass….

https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/06/16/british-airways-brings-back-first-class-to-five-routes/

but not seen them available at all… yet…

[yonasl]

Starting in Nov 2023 BA is flying a 777 with F (flight departs at 11:30am from LHR).

But agree with the others here. There are so few reward flights that focusing on F over just getting there may be the wrong thing to do.

[nwoody2001]

oh, if all else fails, i’ll be flying QR Business Class. They are the only ones that appear to have anything like reasonable availability but alas, i have flown plenty of q-suite flights before but and with decent stashes of avios, virgin points and vouchers to use, looking for advice on best strategies…

[DonLee]

I has same plan to visit Japan next Easter but given up on finding seats. So just booked 3 seats to HongKong instead, Qatar first out then BA business back to London. However, even getting to Japan from HongKong is quite challenge. Not much low cost airlines and redemptions are almost zero.

[LD27]

DonLee wrote:

I has same plan to visit Japan next Easter but given up on finding seats. So just booked 3 seats to HongKong instead, Qatar first out then BA business back to London. However, even getting to Japan from HongKong is quite challenge. Not much low cost airlines and redemptions are almost zero.

Visited Japan a number of times pre Covid for cherry blossom season and left it late to book flights. We’ve used Peach from Hong Kong and Seoul into Kansai and they were fine. I had an email from them a few weeks ago and think they still fly HK to KIX. But I don’t think they fly direct to Tokyo. Before that used Delta from Hong Kong to Tokyo, but think it’s been some time since they and other US airlines flew that route.

[GingerGriff]

Having checked a range of dates via matrix.itasoftware.com and ba.com, I see BA is not selling F on the HND route from 31 March 2024. I’m booked onto BA6 on 12 July and can confirm it’s an 789 (with an unavailable F cabin) and…dun dun dah…old style CW seats. To double check, I tweeted BA and they replied ‘after 30 March 2024 we will only have Club World seats available on this route as the highest cabin you can go to’.

[yonasl]

Hi @GingerGriff if you check for April 2024 you will see their schedule does not include the additional time due to Russian airspace restrictions.

So they have a 777 correctly scheduled for LHR-HND from Nov 2023 to March 2024 and then it is back to all 787s but with all schedules. Feels like that will certainly change since BA5 leaves at 1pm arriving at 10am (current departure time is 11am).

[yonasl]

yonasl wrote:

Hi @GingerGriff if you check for April 2024 you will see their schedule does not include the additional time due to Russian airspace restrictions.

So they have a 777 correctly scheduled for LHR-HND from Nov 2023 to March 2024 and then it is back to all 787s but with all schedules. Feels like that will certainly change since BA5 leaves at 1pm arriving at 10am (current departure time is 11am).

Or maybe a need a coffee …

I was convinced BA5 left at 11am arriving at 10am but I see it is sometimes scheduled at 1pm arriving at 10am. Why the difference in speed I have no idea!

[yonasl]

Haha … mystery solved. BST starts end of March causing the UK on a different time delay with Japan.

Flight is always 13.5hrs in length.

[Gavin454]

yonasl wrote:

Hi @GingerGriff if you check for April 2024 you will see their schedule does not include the additional time due to Russian airspace restrictions.

Tangentially related, I booked a flight with JAL recently from Helsinki to Tokyo for January, plus a Japanese domestic connecting flight separately. The flight from Helsinki was timetabled assuming ability to fly through Russian airspace, although I didn’t realise this when I booked. Then the schedule changed after I booked it to add about 4 hours onto the flight time, so I had to book a new connecting flight.

So it’s worth checking timetables in cases like this.

[yonasl]

Gavin454 wrote:

yonasl wrote:

Hi @GingerGriff if you check for April 2024 you will see their schedule does not include the additional time due to Russian airspace restrictions.

Tangentially related, I booked a flight with JAL recently from Helsinki to Tokyo for January, plus a Japanese domestic connecting flight separately. The flight from Helsinki was timetabled assuming ability to fly through Russian airspace, although I didn’t realise this when I booked. Then the schedule changed after I booked it to add about 4 hours onto the flight time, so I had to book a new connecting flight.

So it’s worth checking timetables in cases like this.

Check also your return as they seem to have updated the EU to Japan flight schedules but have not changed the return (for instance the 11am return to LHR will change to 9am but hasn’t yet).

I had the exact same issue as you and changed to BA5 which is a big risk but my priority is to get to Japan early in the day.