Japan is a set of islands with several international airports and numerous regional airports. You can get to almost anywhere in Japan by flying, even to some of the remote islands. For those hard-to-reach islands that have no airports, ferries are available. For travel between cities, consider Japan’s extensive train system.
Planning
When choosing your airline tickets, consider a few things to minimize your cost and maximize your time. Depending on your itinerary, consider the best airports to arrive at and depart from. For Tokyo, you’d choose Narita or Haneda.
Choose a reliable and comfortable airline for at least the long-haul portion of your flights. Plan around peak holidays. Try booking and deal sites to find your best choice.
Airports
The most active international airports are Narita and Haneda near Tokyo and Kansai in Osaka. Most long-haul flights arrive at one of these airports. Smaller airports are an option for shorter international flights from nearby Asian countries.
Airlines
Japan Air Lines (JAL) and ANA have the most long-haul international flights in and out of Japan. JAL partners with American Airlines, and ANA partners with United Airlines. Some of the United and American flights to Japan are flown by JAL or ANA. The airline actually flying the route will allocate only some of its seats to its code-share partners. You may find more seat choices and better pricing at the source, i.e., ANA and JAL.
If you are already in Asia, there are numerous Asian airlines with flights to and from Japan.
Travel Dates
The busiest and more expensive times to travel to Japan are late April to early May, July and August, and New Year’s. If you don’t need to travel during these times, you’ll find more seats and cheaper options.
Amazing Deals
Be careful of amazing prices. Some super good deals involve very tight connection times or multiple airlines. The tight times could mean you would miss your next flight if the first one is delayed. You may miss your flight with a connection time of fewer than 2 hours.
Multiple airlines could mean you must collect your baggage and check in again for your next flight. A multiple airline ticket may also mean the second or third airline won’t honor your ticket if it is delayed because it was not their airline that caused the delay.
The exception is if they are partner airlines, in which case the tickets are code-shares, and all is well.
Booking Sites
You can find good deals at these reputable booking sites: CheapOair and Trip.com.
Deal Sites
Going (formerly Scott’s Cheap Flights) is a service that will watch for deals from airports you pick and send you an alert via email. They have a free and premium service.
Review
- Consider your best in and out city based on your itinerary
- Search on sites like Momondo, Skyscanner
- Go to the source like JAL or ANA
- Fly at non-peak times
- And have a great time!