I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.
Star Alliance joint venture partners United and ANA have a far as low as $374 roundtrip between Los Angeles and Tokyo.
You need to depart Sunday through Thursday in each direction (no Friday or Saturday flights) and the fare is available for outbound travel August 31 through December 9, December 24 to 31, and again January 10 through March 31. Tickets are non-refundable with a $300 change fee.
You’ll find a great fare of $548 on most booking sites.
However airfare metasearch site Momondo will help you find even better pricing than that.
You’re not going to upgrade these tickets. If you’re a United elite, choose to fly United and not ANA for access to economy plus extra legroom seating. And if you’re interested in earning the most miles you’ll choose to fly United because you can credit the miles to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and earn more than you would any other way.
While a non-elite MileagePlus member crediting United flights to the revenue-based MileagePlus program will only earn under 1500 miles, nearly all United fares earn 100% of flown miles when crediting to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (.pdf). That means you earn almost 11,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for the trip flying United and crediting this K fare to KrisFlyer.
While Singapore miles do expire after 3 years (not 3 years of inactivity), you can top off a KrisFlyer miles account with transfers from American Express, Chase, Citi, and Starwood.
This fare is a wonderful opportunity to get ‘lost’ in this most amazing city.
(HT: Fly4Free)
Unbelievable?
Why unbelievable when the Tokyo fare was ‘amazing’ last week and ‘great’ the week before.
Getting good use of your Momondo links.
Looking at the departure times these are true ‘red-eye’ flights! OK if you’re 20 something and supple, able to suffer a night in a Y seat; hence the lowish fare! Not for me I regret 🙁
@Ric Garrido — it’s pretty amazing when you can fly non-stop between the US and Asia for under $400 roundtrip. Just because this has happened a couple of times recently doesn’t make that less so, it just means that folks who missed it last week get another bite at the apple. In fact, it’s pretty amazing that this wasn’t a one-off. (And most people don’t follow fares as closely as you do, or as much as I would like it, read my blog every day.)
As far as my affiliate link — disclosed at the top of the post, not hidden at the bottom — that generates less than 50 cents for me so ::rolleyes::. I think the comment says more about you, your own biases, than about the content of the post.
Considering over 6000 flipboard shares, people seem to read it and agree that it’s pretty great and they want to pass it on.
@Gary:
Since you’re willing to disclose your Momondo payouts, would you also disclose what the rest of your affiliate links pay? …naaaaaah.
is this deal over? i’m not finding anything close to $400 roundtrip from lax to hnd. thanks in advance for your help!
I can’t find any deal like that either
The cheapest i found is $528
Momondo produces Mumbojumbo search results. Down the LHS results summary I can see these fares but in the main page listing of actual flights/fares they are nowhere to be found. No filters and no AD blockers. Seems to me this search site is a work in progress.