The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[Richard.John]

kryss,

We are lucky that's all. Last year, I recall, was wet for about a month in a row. I am glad the sun is out (for now)

[kryss]

Last year was the same as this year as far as I remember ~1 wet day a week. Although we haven't gotten to July yet anyways.

[Richard.John]

I remember it pissing down everyday but as you say, we still have time. Bring on August!

[Anpanman]

Thanks for the info on Ibaraki kryss, be interesting to see how it develops.

[JU!]

Last year was the same as this year as far as I remember ~1 wet day a week. Although we haven't gotten to July yet anyways.

Don`t count your chickens before they hatch. If I get drenched I`m blaming you . But you are right up until now it`s not been too bad.

[12-51-00]

Don`t count your chickens before they hatch. If I get drenched I`m blaming you . But you are right up until now it`s not been too bad.

Bah, what's a bit of rain? I used to live in Seattle where it, supposedly, rains nine months of the year. I'm not sure if that's actually true but I do remember watching the news and hearing we were days away from beating the city's previous record of thirty-three straight days of rain.

I'm not sure if a new record was actually set because the rain never really bothered me or stopped me doing anything. Not like in the UK, we get a 40 minute shower and roads are closed, people are sandbagging homes, and the media starts predicting an apocalypse. How do the Japanese treat rain? I know they love their umbrellas...

[hankwangford]

Hello,

real quick question - booking via roombank; that's fine for gaijin, right?

ty in advance!

[teddymeow]

Well, it's that time of year again where I start looking at booking my trip to Japan. Virgin Atlantic have certainly gotten expensive since last year so I'm looking at flying with another airline.

I've done British Airways and didn't like that particularly and so I'm thinking of JAL. Has anybody here flown longhaul with them before? Heathrow - Narita will be the journey so if anyone could post their impressions (or recommendations of another airline that won't break the bank) I'd be heartily grateful.

Cheers.

[garrz32]

Well, it's that time of year again where I start looking at booking my trip to Japan. Virgin Atlantic have certainly gotten expensive since last year so I'm looking at flying with another airline.

I've done British Airways and didn't like that particularly and so I'm thinking of JAL. Has anybody here flown longhaul with them before? Heathrow - Narita will be the journey so if anyone could post their impressions (or recommendations of another airline that won't break the bank) I'd be heartily grateful.

Cheers.

have you looked at the KLM website,they have some good deals

[Bort]

Well, it's that time of year again where I start looking at booking my trip to Japan. Virgin Atlantic have certainly gotten expensive since last year so I'm looking at flying with another airline.

I've done British Airways and didn't like that particularly and so I'm thinking of JAL. Has anybody here flown longhaul with them before? Heathrow - Narita will be the journey so if anyone could post their impressions (or recommendations of another airline that won't break the bank) I'd be heartily grateful.

Cheers.

Narita have raised their fees of late by a large amount so all trips will be more expensive regardless of fuel increases.

Virgin were doing tickets a few months ago for 650 but they shot up to between 800-1000 and haven't come down once.

If you are looking for Cheap then you might want to consider flying into Osaka. You'll be able to find a ticket for under 500? but it won't be direct.

[Anpanman]

All the direct's are more expensive, VS, BA, JL, NH.

KLM are good, used them a few times, the wife's flying over with them this year with the daughter, even got them both on Flying Blue so they can collect some points.

[kryss]

My family usually fly over with KLM. Though they did use Aeroflot the first time and vowed never to use them again. Though they can say they've been to Moscow.

[cHawKso]

I went Air France last time - even though they don't always specify, it's a code share flight, so it's only Air France to CDG airport then it's a JAL flight from there.

Might not be best for Narita but I usually need to fly to Chubu Centrair so it's convenient for me.

[asnozz]

I flew with ANA and Asiana last year and thought they were both great BA have been pretty bad to me of late.

[randombs]

I went London-Narita via Virgin Atlantic last July for £640, and then via BA in December for £412, both direct flights.

I use Lastminute.com's flexible dates option to find the overall cheapest dates around when I'm leaving, then I whack those dates into the STA Travel site to see if they drop even farther (e.g. the BA flight was £600-odd on Lastminute but £412 on STA). Sometimes moving forward/back a day or two saves £100 or more, which can then be used to pay for the hotel while there to squeeze extra days out.

I haven't tried JAL or ANA as they were more expensive at the time than was worth it (around 715 in July and 600 in Dec), but maybe next time I go if the price difference isn't much I may try one of them out just for fun.