The ABC’s of getting to Asia — Part I: Airlines
In preparing for the big trip to Asia, instead on focusing on what we would do when we got there, I decided to focus on how to get there (Airlines), what to bring there (Backpacks), and how to spend money there (Credit Cards). The post got so big I’ll be splitting up into three parts!
Airlines
From my experience travelling, the general rule of thumb is that International airlines are almost always better than US airlines, *especially* for long haul travel. Since Lena would be using American AAdvantage miles to buy her ticket, the goal was to figure out how to use her American miles to not fly American.
Lena had just opened the Barclaycard Aviator Red Mastercard, which gives you 60,000 miles after one purchase and payment of the $95 annual fee. The award cost from the US to Japan is 32,500 miles in economy (or 35,000 on an international carrier), and tickets from Richmond to Tokyo are about $1,000 dollars one way, so it would be a huge savings, to say the least. Plus, the card has a benefit (that they are axing May 1, 2019 :( ), that gives you 10% of your redeemed miles back, so the effective rate would be 31.5k miles to Tokyo (plus $5.60 in taxes, but who’s counting).
The next step was to figure out how to avoid American. American is in the same alliance (OneWorld) as Japan Airlines (JAL), which just so happens to be one of a very few 5 star airlines, and also is known for it’s best-in-the-world economy product. The most important aspect for me was the legroom, as JAL has a 33" seat pitch vs. American’s 31" seat pitch, and I know those 2 inches will be night and day when on a plane for 13+ hours.
There was just one problem- there is no way to book JAL on American’s website.
Getting on JAL
Several hours of falling down the award travel rabbit hole on the internet, I finally figured out how to circumvent the online booking issue. To find award space (a seat redeemable with miles) on JAL, you have to create a frequent flyer account on British Airways and/or Qantas (also OneWorld members), to find a JAL flight bookable with AAdvantage miles using their search engine for redeeming miles. The next step is you have to call American reservations, tell them the flight numbers and dates, and then they can book it. They then waive the $35 charge to book over the phone since the flight is not bookable online. What a mess!
In doing so, I finally found the flight. 3.5 hours to Dallas, a 2.5 hour layover, and a 13.5(!!!) hour flight to Tokyo. It was Richmond to Dallas-Fort Worth on American, and then Dallas to Tokyo (Narita) on JAL. Lena books her flight, saving $900+ in the process!
The plane ride
Thankfully, all the hassle was worth it. We flew on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (the newest model), which has two big benefits. The cabins are pressured to 6,000' instead of 8,000' for other planes, and the cabin is more humid, which helps both with jet lag and general comfort. Anything to help getting over a 13 hour time difference!
What’s more is that we were able to sneak on to JAL’s premium economy, which was heavenly to say the least. The seats are gigantic (comparable to business class on small regional routes on US Carriers), with a 42" seat pitch (almost a foot more legroom than American), and wider. Since the plane was half empty, we were able to get both a Window and an Aisle seat next to each other (it was a 2–3–2 seating arrangement), which was ideal.
Service was fantastic, and the plane food was surprisingly delicious. JAL partnered with a cooking competition TV show with up and coming chefs to deisgn the food, and it paid off. While our main entree was average, the sides included smoked salmon with cole slaw, soba noodles, quiche, and miso soup tea and all were delicious. We were given hot towels to clean our hands before the meals, and I paired my meal with some Japanese Shochu (which tasted like sake and was mixed with soda).
The meal finished with Haagen-dazs ice cream. We were given Udon noodles and japanese snacks several hours later, to help tide us over until a small lunch of Spinish and Bacon Pasta 2 hours before we landed.
Customs and immigration were a breeze in Narita(thank god!), and we even ran into our flight attendents in the terminal. They recongnized us and we all said hi passing by, which was super fun! Narita airport is 40 miles from city center, so it was a 2 hour mess getting there, but we got got to our hostel safe and sound.
We’re off to the Kawaii Monster Cafe. Until next time!
