[Anonymous]

[Brett88]

Anyone know why these flights are so expensive? BA and Virgin both coming in at over £2000 for a one way ticket in Y in late summer. Qatar similar. Emirates are the only reasonable price I’ve seen so far (£500) but I’d rather fly direct. Any reason these flights seem to consistently expensive across a range of airlines? Thanks in advance

[Brett88]

seem to be**

[AMcWhirter]

Air fares out of Japan have always been expensive partly because of local restrictions and partly because of the Yen.

Indirect flights will be cheaper. Have you tried either of the two Korean airlines or the mainland Chinese carriers ?

[canucklad]

Not sure if you could get away with it….but have you tried booking SYD-TKO -LHR …or something similar and not use the SYD leg ?

[MartinJ]

You could buy miles on Lifemiles (Avianca/Taca’s FFP) under their current 2for1 promotion and redeem them on a direct ANA flight for a total cost of around GBP 500 one-way in economy or 800 in business.

[FirstClassWannabe]

Generally cheaper to book a return in Y, but what dates are you looking at because I can see flights under GBP 500 one way? Do NOT book SYD-NRT–LHR as they will not let you board in Tokyo if you do not use the SYD leg.

[canucklad]

Apologies Brett…Duff info
Cheers FCW !

[simplesimon]

This seems to me an ideal opportunity to cash in some frequent flyer miles and live it up on a direct flight in First or Business class.

Miles deliver good value on one way tickets.

Never book a one way* – it’s almost always cheaper to book a return, even if that means throwing away your return journey.

* except from some localities where custom and habit means this can be cost effective

[Brett88]

Hi thanks for your info everyone!

I’m actually a young teacher living in Seoul right now so frequent flier miles aren’t something I’m rich in 🙁 Haha. But thanks for all the info!

I’ll be leaving Seoul in early September 2014 so I’m in no rush to book anything but I think indirect is definitely the way to go for me. Have yet to fly KE but OZ are a dream so I will definitely look into those guys.

Thanks again!

[famouschicken]

Brett88
In former post-student days I was living and working in Japan and frequently used No1 Across travel in shinjuku for discounted economy fares. They and others advertise in The Japan Times once a week, Online too I guess. At the time the fares were always competitive and the guys working there obviously on commission as a bit of haggling on the price was often entertained.

[MartynSinclair]

my solution for one way fares, which I need quite a lot of the time is to use airmiles / reward points – although I recognise, these seats are sometimes a challenge to come by.

I have just succeeded in sorting out seats for this weekend, one way (ok, its shorthaul) but longhaul one ways, do work… (if you have the miles/points of course).

[ImissConcorde]

http://www.skyscanner.net shows a fare of GBP522.00 next August on Qatar. Slightly cheaper with China Southern but a 14 hour stopover in Guangzhou!!!

[simplesimon]

If you’ve got a year until you travel, there’s no reason at all you couldn’t earn enough frequent flyer miles to fly home for free.

I appreciate your credit rating may not be strong while overseas, but UK credit cards (particularly promo applications which can yield 20,000+ in a single application), shopping (e.g. with Tesco), hotel stays can all get what you need.

If you are not in a position to earn them yet, then ask relatives to get collecting on your behalf!

Consolidators (like STA travel) used to offer special student fares – not sure if that’s the case (or perhaps that’s what’s referenced above).

http://www.statravel.co.uk/cheap-flights.htm

You’d probably get more cheap flight assistance on a bargain travel forum, rather than this more business- travel oriented site.

[Brett88]

Thanks again everyone. I’ll keep an eye out over the coming months. I still don’t know my exact dates anyway yet but I’ll definitely be returning to the UK early – mid September. I can fly indirect no worries but was just preplexed at the really high economy fares direct.

Unfortunately I’m not in a position to earn enough ff miles. My time off is limited and I already have my flight home for Christmas booked with TK simply because the times got me home much earlier than BA, KE or OZ and I also depart much later on my return leg. And time at home is precious to me. I’ve also a trip to Australia booked with CX which I cannot wait for because I love CX and am have yet to visit Australia. But I made sure to provide my BA exec club membership number when booking.

To be honest right now is not the ideal time for me to be earning ff miles. Most travelling I do in intra-Asia and usually to Japan and neither KE or OZ are oneworld carriers and JL are always far more expensive to justify the price for a

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