Flight from US to Jpn/Chn

[Hello Kitty]

What's a 'decent' price for US to Japan or China? I found one from United to go into Tokyo and out at Hong Kong (I prefer no direct round trip if possible) and it was about $1200/pp in the spring of 08. I'm just not familiar enough with travel in that region to say if something's good or not.

[thompso2]

That's probably a decent price for an open-jaw ticket (i.e., one that goes into one city and departs from another). My DH and I got roundtrip tickets from NYC to Japan last year for $500, but that was a promotional fare -- I'd say $700-800 for a regular roundtrip is more typical, and open-jaws are nearly always more expensive. It might be cheaper to get a roundtrip into Tokyo or Hong Kong, then a second roundtrip between Tokyo, but obviously that would mean more flights.

[Hello Kitty]

Yeah, it was 1000 for RT Chi-Tokyo, but another 500 to get back to tokyo from HK. So I was pretty surprised that it was cheaper.

Thanks for the guideline - that's just what I was looking for.

[trestlegirl]

I flew from San Diego to Tokyo for $620 this spring. I think there might have been better deals had my travel times been more flexible, but that was the best we could find for that week (end of March - very popular time to be in Japan because of the cherry blossoms.)

I agree that you would likely be better off getting round trip to Japan or China, then another flight between. Sometimes travel agents or airline agents can help you get much better deals on this type of travel than you can get via the internet.

And because of your username, I had to mention this...Eva Air has several Hello Kitty planes (http://evakitty.evaair.com/) that fly from Tapei to various destinations in Japan!! Unfortunately I don't think they go to Hong Kong.

[Aimee]

Well, if you're willing to fly into Taiwain, and from Taiwan into Tokyo, you can take a trip on the Hello Kitty airline (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HA28Cb01.html)

[framboise]

I'd say that the rate is roughly competitive with what you might find for an open-jaw ticket. I think you might be able to get it somewhat lower too through a combination of shopping around & adjusting the dates. You said "Spring 2008" which is pretty broad. The whole month of April is prime tourist season in Japan & everything is higher then. Plus, as a pp mentioned above, the end of March is cherry blossom season and there's a huge holiday called Golden Week in the beginning of May. So while the spring is an excellent time to be in Japan, it's not an excellent time to get a good price to get yourself in / around Japan. I work in a travel-related industry for a Japanese company, so while I don't know everything, I have some experience with Japan so let me know if you have any more questions while you plan your trip!

[Hello Kitty]

Thanks for the replies. LOL on the Hello Kitty flights. I forgot about those. I know they make anything and everything HK now!

Framboise - I appreciate your appraisal of the rate. DH has a crazy work schedule (and I have strange demands on mine), and I just found out we won't be able to firm up dates until November 07, so hopefully we can find some good rates in the fall. This is likely a once in a lifetime trip, and we were originally going to go on the cheap in Jan 07, but decided we'd rather go-see-do things in good weather conditions. We're only intending on being in Japan for a few days, then heading over to China. HK wasn't a must-do, but it was just kind of an idea of a place to end up.

[Ohana]

One thing you can do is find a travel agent who specializes in trips to Japan/HK. I know my mom gets crazy cheap fares ($500 RT from Seattle or LA to Tokyo) through her agent...

[Hello Kitty]

How do I go about finding/arranging my own flights within China?

I see all sorts of itineraries that have, for example, flight from Xian to Lhasa but I can't find them on my own. Is the only way to hop around w/in China either on a tour or on a train?

And yeah, this trip has changed quite a bit, we're now thinking mainland china only, if we can add in Tibet - and I know the train goes from Beijing to Lhasa and back, however, I don't know if we have the time for 3 days to return to Beijing, KWIM? I'd be fine taking the train there, and stopping off, but want to fly out...

Oh and also, not to sound stupid, but I'm thinking the travel agents in middle of nowhere IL will have no clue what I'm talking about. Would an agent in Chicago's Chinatown be able to help? I dunno - I guess if I'm thinking of going somewhere real random in Poland, I'd go to that neighborhood where you have a lot of Poles doing things like that.

[Ohana]

Hello Kitty Try travel agents that specialize in China in LA or someplace like that. My mom's agent is based out of LA, even though she lives nowhere near there.

[Hello Kitty]

Bumping for more advice... We are now looking at just doing this and found r/t Chicago to Bejing for $1k - I just don't have a pulse on the fares, you know, so I'm wondering if that's ehh, or average or what.

[meganth]

In December i flew from GR, MI to Detroit to Tokyo for almost $1100. So i'm thinking your fare is probably average. I'm also guessing that we'll see another hike in fare prices soon, so that price may be going up...

[Shapsgrl]

That sounds like a good fare to me. I fly to HK regularly and the absolute cheapest I have paid on United is $600ish. Usually I pay $800-$900 for LAX-HKG round trip.

ETA - my H and I flew an indirect rout of LAX-HKG and BKK-LAX in January and I paid around $1k, he paid around $1200.

[Hello Kitty]

Okay, thanks. I know it's not like a great/steal of a deal, but if we keep waiting for a fare to be aligned with time off and weather and pet care, etc, it will never happen. At least that's what I am telling myself to just click the purchase button. ;)

It's cheaper to go to Shanghai, naturally, but that would involve either 18 hr express train to Beijing or a flight for $200 or so. Same thing with flying out of LA - much cheaper, but we'd have to get there. Thanks for your quick feedback.

[thompso2]

I've found FareCompare (http://www.farecompare.com/) helpful for seeing if a particular flight is a decent value. $1000 doesn't seem terrible, since they show fares of $800 to $1250 (depending on the time of year) from Chicago to Beijing.