[Closed] Going to Japan who is best to fly with?

The ones that land there I reckon..... 😀

I doubt anyone will fly direct from Manchester, so probably better off with either one of the Gulf carriers or Turkish via Istanbul. I think Cathay Pacific also fly out of Manchester now.

Best?

I'd go with BA or JAL, direct. In First. After a private transfer from MAN to LHR.

Or did you mean cheapest? 😉

Cfh.....middle ground....value, service, comfort. Okay pick 2 from 3....

Finnair are pretty good. Lots of stops, but good value for money.

In cattle, CX via HKG or Singapore via SIN are both good.

However, usually worth looking at a flag carrier from your destination or departure first. So, BA or JAL again.

BA from LHR direct

If you want to save some £ you can look at a stop inc travelling via say Paris, from memory the roite is up over the top so none of the usual suspects like Middle East carriers work. You might want to look at say Cathay via HK

Edit: seem cfh post, Singapore air are fabulous (lived theer 2 years and use them a lot) but imho Sing is a bit too far South to make sense for uk to Japan

South, yes, but a good airline counts for a lot over those distances!

Virgin, though you'll have to get to/through theifrow.

Failing that, we generally chose KLM for a Schipol change to stock up on cheese and stroopwaffels at the airport (living in Japan and visiting the UK/Europe). Though the kettling system at Schipol for the flights to the UK is crap, especially when there's a delay.

Of course it may depend where you're going in Japan - I'm assuming Tokyo.

Paris and Frankfurt are the two other obvious 1-stop routes - I wouldn't go for a far east stopover myself.

We have had some pretty ropey flights from Nepal over the years and actually fro m USA...so would like a good airline. Just looked at Finn air lots of stops....

I'd forgotten Virgin go direct. We've used Virgin a lot for US flights over the years and for economy I'd say they are better then BA.

All Nippon airways???? Anyone used them?

Just don't fly Alitalia, worst flight i've ever been on.

Last time I dared to use a Japanese carrier for long-haul the seat pitch seemed ridiculous - might have just been unlucky, the internet suggests they are all much the same really. Would be ok if you're under 5'6" though, and the food will add to the experience, as will the 250 Japanese gawking at you and asking if you can use chopsticks (don't worry, I'm joking, that only starts when you land there).

ME!!!! I fly 777 for BA and fly to Tokyo, either HND OR NRT twice a month. Let me know when you are flying and I'll get on the trip!

Virgin pulled off all Japan flights last year.

Dantsw....does it make any difference which airport we land at?

dantsw13, I'm a regular in CW or F to the US, about once a month. Heading back to Asia on a more regular basis again now as well. Spend plenty of time in the 77, depending on routes obviously.

Will have to track your sectors! Come and join me for a refreshing beverage when you're on crew rest. Or, even better, make sure I'm in F more often...! 😉

Really depends where you are trying to get to in Japan..

If Tokyo, imo the best (& i think quickest) route from Manchester is via Helsinki so worth checking with BA & Finnair..

15 posts between question and actual pilot for the flight your after

Not bad

Dirtyrider...I know so cool eh.....

Vondally, not really. Until recently International carriers were only allowed into NRT, HND was JAL ANA only. BA recently supported JAL through bankruptcy, and part of the deal was a slot into HND. Its like LHR/LGW really.

CFH - I mainly fly HND/NRT/PVG/HKG/EZE/GIG, but I occasionally venture west to SEA/DEN/SAN/SFO, in fact I'm off to SEA tomorrow. I take my bike nearly everywhere - Im planning a ride around Bainbridge Island, but someone planned the rugby for 0900 West Coast time so I can't decide which one misses out!

I'll keep an eye open for you on my flights - I'm assuming your sartorial elegance will make you obvious?

Hmm, I do SFO occasionally, and SEA about twice a year en route to Montana. I've got HKG coming up soon as well, and a possible PVG. Will have to drop you a line...! 🙂

We flew Air France from Edinburgh via Charles de Gaulle to Narita, and they were great. Sign up for the Flying Blue club and you get into the AirFrance lounge for free food & booze and time away from the hoi polloi.

If you mention your trips on here I'll notice if I'm away the same time, and we can have a beer.

Emirates airline perhaps? Changing at Dubai.

[img] [/img]

^^ 😆

Marvellous!

These aren't just acronyms!
They're TLAs!

LOL!

BA and Air Nippon in business were much the same IIRC

TLA? Never flown there. Looks pretty wild country, though.

[img] [/img]

I fly Qantas to Haneda relatively often...... don't s'pose that really helps?

IGMC

We're off there next month, Air China going Heathrow - Beijing - Tokyo. Let you know how it goes. 🙂

Korean Air lines.

Pondo please update when you get back.

No sweat, will do, buddy. 🙂

Don't go from Heathrow unless it's a lot cheaper. It's a god awful place that is horrendous to get to. If Manchester is your local airport then I suspect one of the gulf carriers will be the cheapest and best. Emirates, Qatar and Etihad all fly out of Manchester. They are basically the best airlines in the World. Why would you go to eat grow to fly a worse airline?

Just flown back from Osaka to Manchester with Emiratres changing at Dubai. Although Emirates was good and the flights were on time it is the bloody long way round compared to over the top from LHR or Schiphol and if things go wrong with your transfer you'll be stuck in Dubai seven hours from home. On the way out to Shanghai the A380 was stuck on the tarmac at Manchester for 3 hours due to technical problem which meant I missed my connection in Dubai and had to re-route via Taipei. Next time I need to go to Japan I'll probably go back to using KLM from Schiphol.

I've been lucky enough to do Lufthansa business, BA business, JAL F and business from the UK and NZ business from NZ.JAL was head and shoulders above the others.

Whatever you decide, enjoy being there. That's the important bit and I'm very jealous

I went with KLM.

Don't go with KLM.

If by best you mean cheap, then Google Flights is your friend if you are flexible on dates or have specific requirements. You can search multiple airports by code and stick to certain alliances or airlines if you are fussy. For Tokyo, Haneda is much more convenient (public transport will get you in to the central area in 30 mins) but Narita will, most likely, be cheaper (1 hour train or bus on separate ticket to your tourist train pass, assuming you want to use the Shinkansen). I would also consider KIX (Kyoto-Osaka) for a tourist visit.

Assuming you are looking at economy, it can also be worth aiming to arrive later in the day to have the best chance of beating the jet lag. If you haven't slept on the night flight and arrive early, then trying to stay awake the whole day is a real pain.

EDIT: In response to HTS's post, I flew KLM economy a few years ago and it was fine. To m,e all the major airlines have similar offerings in economy.

I do it three times a year ...
Anyone who does it direct ...

Connection flights are a pain in arse and make it seem 3 x as long (says he about to fly to Singapore with a 5 hrs transfer on Monday early am!)

Well going direct is always best if you live a sensible distance from an airport that has that option. Though direct flights are usually more expensive. But I fly long haul every 6 weeks or so and living in the East Midlands I'd rather fly from a local airport via somewhere than take the horrendous option of driving down to Heathrow. You can't fly direct to Japan from Manchester so a connection is probably the best option and will be the cheapest. There is nothing worse than landing at Heathrow at 5am after a sleepless long haul flight facing a 3hr or more haul up the M1 or M40 to get home. Similarly there is nothing worse than getting up at 5am to drive down to Heathrow hitting the M25 at rush hour then battling through the chaos that is Heathrow on your outbound flight. You feel like you've had enough of travelling before you even get on your 13 hour flight. Flying from Manchester or Birmingham is a doddle for me, so I assume it will be for the OP. Less than an hours transfer to either airport, the airports themselves are far less busy and easier to navigate and less stressful. It's just a doddle.

Make your life easier, fly one of the Gulf carriers from Manchester. Second option go with Turkish via Istanbul or Cathay via HK. The next league down is Air France and KLM - but take half your clothes in your hand luggage and make sure you've got good insurance.

I would personally say avoid KLM. The food and Infotainment in business was rubbish - hate to think what it is like in paying for it yourself class

Captainflashheart: you either work in the travel business or travel too much - or both. I'm a travel manager for a corporate and I don't know half of those airport codes! I'm mainly Europe and Africa. And India for my sins.

I flew Manchester to Japan with KLM - via Schiphol. Service was great.

My pilot mate used to call every city by its airport code ! These days they are useful for quick entry on all the booking websites

I travel too much. Last year has been mainly US, about once a month or so, but have previously done a lot more globally. Going global again now as well.

I think my record was a month containing Madrid, Barcelona, Moscow, Washington DC, Boston, Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and home.

Anyone who says work travel is glamorous hasn't done much of it.

Pondo please update when you get back.

We're back! Flew out half nine Easter Monday evening with Air China, flight to Beijing wasn't half bad - expecting rubbish food we ate beforehand but it was fine (and served very early in the flight, so we were stuffed!), touchscreen entertainment thingies which was quick and easy to use. Beijing was a beeyatch to get through, even though we were just getting a connection we had to go through the full security screening thing, and they take it pretty serious over there, very short transfer (like an hour and a half or something) and we had to push through the big queues to make our flight. Think it was about three hours to Haneda, landed about half nine/ten on Tuesday night, worrying about getting to our hotel before all the public transport shut down at midnight - almost inevitably, once we cleared security there was a nice lady waiting for us to say our bags hadn't made it (Mrs Pondo, being an angel, had made sure we had clothing for a few days in our hand luggage so no drama), and public transport was a doddle to navigate (and super standing-room-only busy, even approaching midnight on a Tuesday), got to our ryokan about midnight.

Flight back, much less fun - left Haneda at half eight, no drama to Beijing where we had a five hour stopover which was bobbins, almost an hour to get through security and customer service was pants compared to what we'd experienced in Japan. Left Beijing about half four in the afternoon, entertainment thingies were cable remote and rubbish, very slow and prone to crashing, food a step down on what we had on the way out, they ran out of beer and insisted on having the shutters down all afternoon, so saw very little of Russia, landed about nine in the evening, same day we left. That was a long hard slog of a flight. 🙁

Our tips for going over there and getting around would be -
- Make sure you've got a couple of days worth of clothing in your hand luggage, in case your bags don't make the connection either.
- If you're going to travel around, the JR pass is flipping brilliant. If you're not going to travel around, it's a lot of money.
- Suica cards are great for the underground, trains and buses, saves the hassle of buying tickets all over the shop. Load it up and it's like an Oyster card that works.
- If you're travelling round, Hyperdia is an awesome app for getting train times. It can be configured to ONLY look for JR pass compatible trains, etc.
- The baggage going missing did us a favour and we learned from it - so easy to navigate without the heavy bags, we took an executive decision to get them sent between certain stops (we'd pack another couple of days worth of kit in day bags and get the heavy stuff sent two hotels ahead), worked a treat and made travelling much less hassle.

Best holiday I've ever had.

On the catering, most airlines upload local catering, so food from London - Beijing likely to be better than Beijing - London, whoever you fly with.

Window blinds - tell the crew to "do one". They are trying to keep the cabin dark & pax asleep, so they have to work less. There are absolutely not rules mandating you to keep it down.

Glad you enjoyed Japan!!

Here's some of the view you missed - flying from Tokyo Narita - Heathrow yesterday 🙂

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Pondo....where did you visit and what hotels did you use?

We used BA from Manchester to Heathrow then Heathrow to Haneda on the way out a couple of months back. We did an internal from Narita (with Peach Airlines), and not much in it from central Tokyo - Narita Express is very slick (and looks like it's straight out of Mad Max). Either way, getting into / out of Tokyo is very straightforward.

Advantage of BA to Manchester is that there are several flights a day so you can get decent connections and not a massive issue if you're a bit delayed coming back.

Great scenery out of the window on the way back - as Dan said earlier!

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On the catering, most airlines upload local catering, so food from London - Beijing likely to be better than Beijing - London, whoever you fly with.

Aaa, makes perfect sense - next time we fill up at Beijing in advance (mind you, the lunch we had there was fairly minging...).

Window blinds - tell the crew to "do one". They are trying to keep the cabin dark & pax asleep, so they have to work less. There are absolutely not rules mandating you to keep it down.

Duly noted - only an hour or so after take off, just after dinner so missed Mongolia and Russia. Next time they can stick it. 🙂

Glad you enjoyed Japan!!

Cheers, it was just fantastic. 🙂 I'm sure the novelty must go off, the amount you go there, but even so, what a great place to end up when you clock off from work. 🙂

Here's some of the view you missed - flying from Tokyo Narita - Heathrow yesterday

Nice, cheers! You get much bigger windows than us, but I guess that's pretty useful if you're driving. 🙂

Pondo....where did you visit and what hotels did you use?

Are you sitting comfortably...? 😀
Landed Tokyo Haneda late Tuesday night (bags not made connection, had them sent to second hotel), straight to our hotel - Andon Ryokan, very snug but fantastic service and a decent Japanese take on a Western breakfast, has a spa (well, a very hot jacuzzi) and a rooftop terrace (didn't have time to check it out). Arrived at midnight and the guy waited up for us, made us tea and gave us cake - much appreciated.
Wednesday, Tokyo - did Ueno Park (fantastic blossom, very busy), went to Senso-Ji (an ok temple, very busy), Asahi Towers (beer on the 22nd floor, great view - first encounter with Japanese toilets), visited Shibuya, popped into Ueno to view by lantern light (awesome) and grab some street food.
Thursday - checked out of Andon Ryokan, got our JR passes validated, went to Hakone by Shinkansen, big bags had arrived so dropped little bags (Ichinoya Honkan) and went up to the lake, took a boat ride round. You can get a pass that'll take you all round the place but the ropeway was closed due to seismic activity, so we didn't bother with the pass. Back to the hotel - lovely, old-school, all sliding doors and tatami mats, had our own spa overlooking the river. Dinner and breakfast included, all fully Japanese.
Friday - checked out of hotel, big bags sent on a couple of hotels, Shinkansen to Hiroshima, checked out the peace park (A-Dome, children's memorial, the monument and a couple of museums, stayed at Urbain Hiroshima Central (and it is spelled Urbain), only "Western" hotel we stayed at, bit of a very clean version of Travelodge. Great showers (but everywhere seems to have great showers).
Saturday - checked out of hotel and headed to Miyajima which was just lovely, visited the floating gate (paddled out to it and had it to ourselves, we must be on a million holiday snaps 🙂 ) and pottered about, found a lovely little cafe run by an old couple for lunch and he told us where to find good blossom (he was right). Shinkansen back to Kyoto that evening, stayed in a house called Casting Factory Y - big bags had arrived, house was fantastic, way too big for us two, old-school shoji sliding doors again, massive living room and bedroom, spare room had beautiful swords on the wall, our own little garden, great shower. Owner just fantastic, little English but could not be more helpful.
Sunday - pottered round Kyoto, did Fushimi (thousands of torii), Ginkaju and the Philosopher's Path, wandered to Gion then on to Teramachi and Nishiki.
Monday - another look round Nishiki then bus to Kinkaju-ji, then a tour round the Imperial Palace (have to apply in advance - no permit, no tour), then back to Nishiki and wandered west through the lovely little alleys by the river for a few beers.
Tuesday - House owner drove us to the train station, helped us send our big bags a couple of hotels on then gave us some mementos - lovely, lovely man. Shinkansen and other, local trains/buses/cable car to Koyosan, lovely mountaintop retreat, very many shrines and temples. Had a wander a round in the afternoon then checked into Kumagaiji - run by monks, proper old school shoji and beautiful gardens. Dinner served by monks in our own 10 tatami dining room (whilst the beds were put out by another monk in our 10 tatami living room), wandered up to Onunoin by night.
Wednesday - up early to join the monks for prayer then the fire ritual, breakfast served in our dining room, then shinkansen back to Andon Ryokan back in Tokyo (big bags already waiting), popped out to Shinjuku to check the madness, grabbed okonomyaki for tea then headed home. Tube still standing room only busy at midnight.
Thursday - up to catch the first tube at 5:05, have to queue to get on. This place is NEVER quiet. Arrived Heathrow 25 hours later - we'd booked parking at Park Inn for the duration and also a room for this night. Never have I been more glad that I don't have a long drive to make...

Fantastic place, loved everything - everyone should go at some point in their lives. 😀

Cheers for the pic Dashed - looks lovely, wish we'd seen more of that! 🙂