What is a good airfare from Denver to Japan?

March 17, 2014 6:53 AM

We're planning an October trip to Japan, and having never been to that part of the world, I find I have no idea what a good fare is. I'd like to purchase well in advance and I'm finding fares in the $1300-1500 range for our time period. Is that a good fare?
posted by ecorrocio to Travel & Transportation around Japan (8 answers total)

Best answer: That's a pretty good fare.

Check Delta for good pricing, they picked up a lot of NWA flights when they merged. When I went, I went on Asiana as part of a code-share with American and it was AWESOME! I did have to connect through Seoul, but I really enjoyed the airport.

Some of the Asian airlines aren't going to be in Kayak or Orbitz, so it may make sense to check them out separately.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:57 AM on March 17, 2014

Best answer: One trick I've used to suss out "average" fares: use the "search entire month" feature of the ITA Matrix tool (do it for a FEW months) - it'll give you a good idea of the best/worst fares, as well as if it's a decent time to make the trip.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:01 AM on March 17, 2014 [6 favorites]

Best answer: Amnet-USA generally has very good fares to Japan. I know several ex-pats who book through them for annual trips home.

Denver is not one of Amnet-USA's departure cities, so you'l have to work out a ride to LA/SF/Seattle/Chicago.
posted by notyou at 7:53 AM on March 17, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I paid about $1200 a couple years ago from Chicago to Tokyo, so yes, that's what I would expect now. I can't remember the breakdown exactly, but it was something like $800 for the actual ticket and then $400 for various airline and international fees.
posted by sbutler at 8:36 AM on March 17, 2014

Best answer: LA-Tokyo runs from about $800 at the very low end (like middle of January) to $2000 at peak (middle of August for example) with non-peak fares being in the $1000-$1200 range pretty often. So that sounds fairly reasonable for that time of year.
posted by wildcrdj at 10:51 AM on March 17, 2014

Best answer: I've flown USA to Japan many times, and $1300 - 1500 is what I would consider a very slightly better than average price for a round trip ticket.

2nding ITA Matrix software month long search.
posted by crawltopslow at 12:46 PM on March 17, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks!
posted by ecorrocio at 1:13 PM on March 17, 2014

Check out Kayak and StudentUniverse as well (I don't *think* you have to be a student to book with the latter site - I think only some of their cheapest fares are restricted to students - but probably worth double checking). I have found fares there that are *significantly* cheaper than elsewhere.
posted by ClaireBear at 8:31 AM on March 18, 2014