The Sad State of Booking Award Travel to Japan (With a Few Bright Spots)

When I came back from our amazing family trip to Japan in 2023 (see my series of posts) I certainly wasn’t planning to do it all over again just a few years later. Don’t get me wrong, I loved our adventure, and to this day  consider Japan to be the most unique destination I ever had a privilege to experience. But jet lag is no joke, and even with the weak yen, the costs certainly add up. After all, there are so many “do not miss” activities to tempt you.

But my daughter specifically requested a visit to Japan as her graduation present. So here I am, trying to piece together a two-week itinerary that won’t just be a rehash of our previous trip. Of course, I mostly let her do the planning, but my job is to put it all in a  logical order. Some things she wanted to do (like repeat stay in Hakone) had to be cut, as it would require backtracking. She also had to choose between Disney Sea and Ghibli Park in Nagoya due to time constraints. She chose the latter, as it’s something totally unique to Japan.

I have a section on our exact itinerary below, but first I had to book award flights, no easy task these days (an understatement). I was able to cobble something together,  though it’s far from perfect.

Our award flights (for now)

I wrote a post not too long ago on transferring Amex MR points to Hawaiian program at the eleventh hour. I’ve mentioned that even booking JAL economy is a tough challenge these days, especially when flying on the weekends. Since I didn’t want to pay fuel surcharges via one of Avios programs, that left me with AAdvantage or Alaska miles. Btw, Finnair gets access to JAL award flights first, so this is where you want to park your Avios.

Anyway, by the time AA and Alaska got access to JAL inventory, there was nothing left not just in premium economy, but in regular  economy as well. I’m not exaggerating, as I’ve checked every JAL route both ways, and there wasn’t one flight that had three seats available. Unreal, but it shows how popular Japan is these days. In addition, award tickets on AA-operated flights  were super expensive, running at 65k miles each way in economy from LAX or Dallas. No thanks.

Fortunately, thanks to my speculative transfer  to Hawaiian/Alaska, I had an option to book Hawaiian-operated flights from Seattle to Tokyo. The cost was 42.5k miles each way through Alaska program. Not great, but the best option out of all the bad options. This is where I discovered that I messed up. For some reason, I didn’t check the cost via Hawaiian program, assuming it would be the same as Alaska. Wrong. I was able to rebook SEA-NRT flights for 34k miles one-way instead. So now I have a surplus of Alaska miles. Not the end of the world, as I’m sure I’ll use them eventually. Maybe even for Japan.

So, I got award flights to/from Japan taken care of. Now I just needed to get something from Florida to Seattle and back. I went ahead and booked Seattle-Tampa flight for 22k miles one-way thanks to my 15% Amex Delta card discount. That used up most of my Delta stash. I have about 50k miles left in Alaska program, split between two accounts. Right now Tampa-Seattle route costs 35k miles, so I can’t even book one ticket. But prices fluctuate, so I’ll be keeping an eye on it. In the meantime, I went ahead and booked a nonstop Miami-Seattle flight at 25k AAdvantage miles.

I hate flying out of Miami, as it’s quite  a bit further than Tampa. But the other option would be to transfer Amex points to Delta and book a flight from Orlando to Seattle. I really don’t want to do that, as I’m fairly confident that we will end up flying a completely different route in the end. All of my award flights are fully refundable, which is crucial for my longterm plan.

I’ve been watching award patterns on AA.com, and about three weeks before  flights to Japan, AAdvantage starts to release availability in premium economy. Very often, you can book Orlando-Tokyo flight with an overnight in Dallas or Los Angeles, for a total of 45k miles.
I have enough for three tickets if that pattern sticks around until next summer. I have to make a connection anyway, so it doesn’t make a difference how we end up in Tokyo, as long as we get there on a certain date. Business class on JAL would obviously be preferable, but it costs 60k miles via AA, and I would likely have to buy a positioning AA flight separately.

Flights from Tokyo to US are a bit more tricky, but availability usually starts to pop up two weeks prior. Of course, no guarantees, but again, the fact that I’m not tied to a specific airport in US certainly helps. Chicago usually looks pretty good last-minute. Something else I’ve noticed is that JAL often releases married segments via AA program. What that means is that a flight may only be available if you add a connection. Here is an example:

 

Reportedly, you can call AAdvantage and ask an agent to drop the other segments. I haven’t tried it yet, as I only have enough AA miles for two tickets. Alaska program doesn’t seem to show married segments on JAL. But my point is, there are still ways to get premium economy and business class, but you have to be flexible and willing to pivot at the last minute.

I’ve decided not to set any alerts, but simply check a few routes each morning. In all likelihood, nothing will change until the last three weeks before our trip, so I just have to sit tight. But honestly, if things don’t work out the way I hope, it’s not the end of the world. We will simply fly from Seattle to Tokyo and back in economy. At 8.5 hours eastbound, it’s similar to going to Europe.

Our itinerary keeps changing

We went back and forth on where to visit, and switched things around a few times already. But here is what we came up with as a final plan:

1) Fly to Tokyo, spend 3 nights

2) Take a train to Nikko, spend 1 night

3) Take a train to Ishinomaki in order to visit “Cat” Island, spend 2 nights

4) Take a train or taxi to Sendai airport, fly to Osaka via AA miles, spend 1 night there (use it as a base to visit Himeji castle)

5) Take a train to Kyoto, spend 2 nights

6) Take a train to Nagoya, spend 2 nights

7) Take a bullet train to Haneda or Narita airport in Tokyo, hopefully see mount Fuji on the way (evening flight to US)

Are you tired just by reading it? I know I am. But that’s what my daughter wants to do. In fact, as mentioned earlier, I had to insist on cutting some things, as it was getting too crazy. I don’t know how my husband will handle it, but we will soon find out.

Choice program is your friend in Japan

As promised in the title, there are bright spots when it comes to award travel in Japan. Choice program offers excellent pricing on hotels, as long as you are not picky. I had a stash of Choice points from renewing co-branded credit cards, so we ended up using them in Tokyo on the same Comfort Inn Roppongi we stayed at two years ago.

I paid 12k points per night, and we got two rooms. Cash cost is $200 per night, normal for Tokyo these days.  I’ll stay with my daughter, and my husband will get his own space for few nights. I wasn’t able to snag their big room via points, but we will manage. If you have a premium Citi card, transferring to Choice via 1:2 ratio obviously offers an excellent value proposition.

In Nagoya I paid 8k Choice points per room in a Comfort Inn located next to train station. Again, nothing fancy, but a pretty good deal, especially since cash rate is $150. If you plan on visiting Disney parks in Tokyo, there is  Comfort Suites Tokyo Bay for only 8k Choice points per night, and the rooms will fit three people.

This is where you will also find one of relative Hyatt bargains in Japan: Hyatt Regency Tokyo Bay Originally I booked a suite here for 17k points per night that included lounge access, but canceled since my daughter has decided to visit Ghibli park in Nagoya instead.

All the other Hyatt properties in Tokyo are obscenely expensive IMO, especially when you compare them to Choice properties. Sure, not exactly apples-to-apples, but we will be there mostly to sleep and shower. I just don’t feel the need to drop a ton of Hyatt points when the alternative is so much cheaper.

Kyoto also has  Comfort Inn properties that cost 10k points per night, which is decent. Some offer triple occupancy and free breakfast. During cherry blossom season, it’s a steal. But I’ve decided to rent a machiya for two nights at a total cost of $400 via Booking.com. It’s only steps away from Park Hyatt Kyoto, so location is top notch. Staying in machiya is one of my favorite memories of Japan, so I’m eager to do it again. And at $400 total, it’s not a budget-buster.

For our one night in Osaka I hope to utilize my husband’s Aspire Hilton certificate. We will likely book Conrad Osaka and pay $120 extra to add a rollaway for my daughter. Update: the hotel rep has just responded via email and said there is no charge for a rollaway!
Thanks to his Diamond status, we would also get access to the lounge and  amazing breakfast spread the next morning. It is a bit of a splurge, but the math checks out. This will be the nicest hotel on the trip, hopefully a fun treat. Read more on the card here

As far as Ishinomaki and Nikko lodging, I’ll be using Booking.com and also utilizing $100 Delta Amex credit towards reasonably-priced local hotels. I have some places in mind, but they are not bookable yet. The good news about visiting Japan now  while yen is weak, is that you can get some serious bargains on lodging as long as you leave big cities. And for big cities there are Choice points and Hilton certificates.

Final thoughts

I absolutely don’t claim that this trip will be free or even cheap. Just the train tickets alone will add up to a small fortune. Speaking of, I hope the Hello Kitty train is still running, as I want to surprise my daughter with a ride from Osaka to Himeji. Still, by covering airline tickets with miles and using hotel points and certificates in big cities, I will be slashing the overall cost by probably two thirds. I think we can do the whole thing for around $3k out of pocket all-in, or $1k per person. Far from free, but a good price for a special trip and a realistic goal to have.