Great value direct flights to Tokyo on JAL with 2x23kg checked bags. FYI flights from Melbourne fly into Narita, while flights from Sydney will arrive at Haneda.
Dates for Melbourne are June to November 2023 & February/March 2024. From Sydney, dates in August & October 2023, and March 2024.
Sydney to Tokyo (Haneda) - $1140
Melbourne to Tokyo (Narita) $1134
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Better than Jetstar.
Low bar to set
great airline
Better than Qantas
Low bar these days
Agree. Way better than Qantas. Also HND has a xpress bus to city while NRT you need to take train then change another train at 日暮里. Very annoying
@duodeta: NE'X goes direct to Tokyo station from NRT in 53 minutes. If you take the Skyliner, you have to change though.
@duodeta: Changing at nippori is one small option for NRT flights. The 乗換 at 上野 is much more of a pain for the skyliner but the skyliner is a very fast connection to the airport for the east and parts of the north, and cheaper than the NEX. I used to drag 25kg of luggage and 7kg of carry on the 500+ m from Keisei Ueno to the Ueno Subway Hibiya line to save 1000en.(this is a bargain site right?)
There were many busses from Narita to all over Kanto but some have not resumed after Covid yet.
JAL has the best food.
It is true
JAL is one out of only a handful airlines that gives 84cm seat pitch. You get 81 cm if you fly SQ. You get 79 if you fly Qantas.
It is hands down the best airline company I've travelled with. And that's comparing with economy classes of Singapore, Emirates, Qantas, Etihad, Cathay etc. The service is impeccable, food is great, new planes all round generally,.. what more can one ask from an airline. Oh, flys on time and gets you there
I believe they've been voted to have the best economy product out of any airline in the world
There 787 configuration is 2-4-2 I believe. Vs 3-3-3 for basically every other airline.
Which means more space side to side then nearly every other airline. Not by much but better then nothing.
Good food, booze included and good service. It and Turkish Airlines are my two favourite not middle eastern Airlines.
JAL rocks, love them. This is a great price for JAL, although note that MEL-Narita is way less convenient than SYD-Haneda in terms of getting to/from airport and downtown Tokyo. No matter, for a T1 airline, go for it.
what do you recommend? As a melbournian, should I rather catch a flight to sydney and fly from there instead? better than going from Narita?
It depends if you like transiting or a longer train journey. Narita isn't too bad if you're semi familiar with Japan - just longer.
Narita isn't bad. It's just not as convenient. Get to Japan however you can, direct on a T1 airline, is my recommendation.
Their the only airline to have the 8 abreast 787 compared to the squeezy 9 abreast. I'd say they are Y+
Some might even put it above Singapore Airlines which wouldn't surprise me since the quality went downhill since COVID.
Sq service is ok. But 81 cm seat pitch is a little too narrow for me.
I travelled business on both Singapore Airlines and JAL recently and whilst both were great, SQ was definitely better. Cant fault food on JAL, but both service and seats were better on SQ.
Best full service airline flying out of Australia.
Keep in mind for anyone booking that these prices are 3rd party websites and not direct with JAL.
Yes, I always give the best bargain available, but of course you can book direct for about $60 more.
And if you have the choice between Haneda and Narita, go for the former every time (closer/cheaper to the city)
Unrelated but do you ever see deals on flights in December? When do they show up?
They pretty much don't :) Peak season and all that.
school holidays, unlikely.
Quick, get in before the JR Pass price increases by ~75%! (Sometime in October)
They’re going up by 75%?
Yeah something like that.
😭
are the train prices also being increased? Otherwise I don't see how it would ever be of value, unless you're taking a 4 hour train every day.
Just the JR pass.
Best value can be had if visiting the tourist trifecta (Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto) in a 1 or 2 week trip.
Now that the prices will jump considerably, it's probably better to stick to one of the three and buy individual tickets as needed.
Even now, going to tokyo -> kyoto -> osaka -> tokyo, you're only going to barely break even with a few yamanote line trips around tokyo as well (and all within a week). It's better value if you go further, like around hokkaido and/or kyushu. With the price increase, I don't think most itineraries would be worth it. Seems like a crazy decision to me.
@Aequitas: Yes and no. Japan has been subsidising the JR pass effectively for a long time. In theory they should've slowly risen prices over the last decade so that the jump isnt this drastic.
There's also now ever increasing people travelling to Japan forcing more and more crowded shinkansens.
69% I think. Either way a shitload too much.
What date will be the price increase? I have upcoming trip in October. Can I purchase in September to avoid? Thanks
JR Passes can be activated up to 3 months after the issue date. You can order your pass at the current price until 25 September.
When you activate your pass in Japan, you can select a start date up to 30 days in the future. This means you could potentially travel to Japan with the Pass until the end of January, depending on when you order.
September is fine. I'm ordering then for my November trip. Even with the price hike it'll still work out better for me.
Prices almost back to pre COVID levels.. probably another 20% to go
Thanks for this. I’ve been telling myself Japan is my next trip and I’ve been wondering what pre-pandemic prices were like.
Meanwhile SYD to LAX are about double what they were when I went in late 2019…
It was about 800 return previously… I had to cancel the last booking after the bans … Factor in some inflation and it's not far off.
i found an email from JAL on 28/02/2020 saying:
Fares from Australia to Japan
from AUD 684
but Yolo i booked March next year
Yep, you are right, these are pretty far from the fares we were seeing pre-covid. I was finding direct flights in the $600s and $700s regularly in 2017 & 2018. Hopefully they will return!
Pre Covid we were booked for about 700 return per person. Flights for the last week of March 2020… anyone want to guess how that went :(
I wonder if there is anything legal you could fill those bags with to help pay for the trip?
worn undergarments of a certain gender
Rock melon
Japanese snacks ! Sunscreens, cooking sauces ! They are super expensive in Asian supermarkets and you probably can sell them online to recoup some of your costs :)
cherries to sell to japan
cosmetics to sell from japan
Video games! They are plentiful there
not a bad shout. Gamesboys and stuff like that is in great condition in Japan and would sell for a chunk more here.
Oranges
Hard Off and other used stores have cheap consoles or even JP exclusives. Even the used PC parts like video cards can be good value.
If you can find pokemon cards - lots of that from Japan.
FYI August isn't a great month to visit Japan, it's in the middle of Typhoon season and their summer makes aussie summer look like a joke.
But a good time to see/climb Mount Fuji?
Yeah not too bad of a time but expect flights to get cancelled/delayed during that season no matter what airline you're with, I have been stung by this twice haha.
Yes their humidity is unbearable
I’m starting to wonder if many people on here have been north of Sydney between October and April.
Aussie is a big place.
Did you have any particular city/state in mind?
As someone who loves Japan (I used to live there and have visited Japan twice this year):
Japanese summers are VERY hot and humid.
JR Pass is only worth getting if you have more time. Planes are faster. I suggest checking if flying is cheaper vs the JR pass. Depending on your travel plans.
The Japanese yen is pretty weak at the moment.
Don Quijote is good for gifts and I've found it to be cheaper for most things. There are some exceptions though.
Do yourself a favour and get an IC public transport card as soon as possible. One thing to note. Credit expires on most IC cards after a couple of years. The one made for tourists in Kansai (Osaka's prefecture) called Kansai One doesn't expire. And it has Astro boy on it.
I have a couple of Passmo cards from last year (Oct). When you say get an IC Public Transport card ASAP, just wondering if there's going to be a change there like JR Pass?
JR pass is about to have a 60% price increase after October and not worth it for tourists after that point
I had JR last year too and it was great value, can you buy before then to save? or is it for passes activated in Oct?
Does IC card make it cheaper for Intercity (Tokyo - Osaka)?
"not worth it for tourists"… lol ok.
Considering JR pass hasn't really changed in price for years, it still sounds like a good deal to me.
Sure it'll be worth weighing up your options, but I wouldn't completely write it off.
@andysa: Someone a while ago posted a route calculator that tells you whether its worth it to have the JR pass with new pricing, or to take the train trips as stand alones. If I find the link Ill update my comment.
@TrafalgarSean: Hey, just posting here to keep track if you end up finding that link, would definitely help me, cheers.
No. I was just advising people to get an IC Card. Because it makes travel around Japan so much easier. You can pay at some shops using these cards as well.
Not sure on that IC card thing. My Suica(s) dating as far back as 2011 are all still in working order, and I had no trips from Nov 2019 to Sept 2022.
I stand corrected. IC cards in Japan are valid for 10 years.
what does it mean 2x23kg? so we can bring 46kg one way?
Yes, you can bring 2 x 23kg max bags
Japan Airlines operate on a piece allowance, rather than a weight-based allowance.
You are able to bring 2 pieces of baggage of up to 23kg each.
yes, a great point. I forgot about this and had to carry another 10kg bag to plane last month.
Are these fares sale fares? or just standard? (I know they are cheap but wondering if the price has an end date)
I've seen the prices come down over the last few months so I'm wondering that as well.
Sale fares. I booked JAL earlier this week on QF points, but was looking at paying instead and these exact same flights were ~$1650!
Thank you! I checked JQ flights (and others) but being a Japanese airline, and Direct means less chance of the chain breaking. Great value
I've booked for Oct again. :)
2 x 23kg, which is a total of 46kg per person. More than most economy tickets include
It's a lot better than most other airlines. My experience with SQ was 25kg with no piece restriction. If I could carry 46kg combined, I could do a lot more shopping.
Lucky you're not malaysian then. It's been 20kg forever
Is seat selection an extra cost on JAL?
No. I went through the booking flow and Bags and seats are included. The meals are too I think, however there's a confusing Add Meal section which is for customers with specific dietary needs. No booking fees either….
no charges for anything
No, it's a real airline.
Want to fly in Nov but prices still dicey. Glad I waited tho before booking, better than a month ago.
$1189 Melbourne to Tokyo in October from JAL website. Tempting.
Sweet, that's a good price for direct. Just need to figure out some dates!
Thanks OP. Been waiting for a sale on direct fares. Booked for March- early April next year. There were some more flexible dates on the JAL site, $1194 pp for potentially early cherry blossom season. Happy with that!
Nice one!
which dates did you manage to get?
I booked 9 March - 5 April. I didn't realise it until looking into it, that it's over Labour Day and Easter. I also made a typo in my original message, the flights were $1189pp :)
is JAL any good?