Low Cost flights in Japan

[SN539]

Hello,

I will travel in Japan in april and I'm looking for a cheap ticket between Tokyo and Osaka. When looking on the "traditional" websites (like Connections, Kayak, Nouvelles Frontières, Opodo, ...) I only find quite expensive tickets with JAL or ANA (+/- 450 EUR return).

Are they low cost airlines in Japan. Or does anybody know how to buy cheap tickets for domestic flights in Japan ? TYO-OSA is one of the world busiest leg in the world, so I'm a bit surprised there is no more competition ...


Thanks in advance.

[sn26567]

Have you tried their High Speed Trains?

[regi]

Lyanair maybe ?
( laughing is allowed )

[regi]

okay, more serious:
http://www.starflyer.jp

just 1 problem: how is your japanese?

Other possebility: Korean LCC Jeju Air . First fly to Korea and than back to Japan.

( It is quite obvious that I am not familiar with Japanese aviation, just trying.)

[joyraider]

Indeed, don't fly, just take the train (cheaper & probably faster);

http://jreast-shinkansen-reservation.ek ... /menu.aspx

[eurojet]

Only one word: Japan Rail Pass... No need for internal flights (only if you plan to go to Okinawa or Sapporo). Tokyo-Osaka: a shinkanshen nearly every 20 minutes (remember, this is over 500 Km), and it takes about 2.5/3 hours. Take a railpass for the Green Car, first class, only a littke bit more expensive but well worth the money. The high-speed trains in Japan are fantastic, and you enjoy the scenery

[DeltaWiskey]

Indeed the japan rail pass is very convenient, 260 euro for ordinary pass, 350 for the green (first class) pass. It's valid 7days and you can travel to anywhere in Japan.
The only disadvantage is you can't use the nazomi (the fastest) shinkansen on tokyo-osaka, but you can use the hikari instead, which does it in 3 hours, opposed to 2.5 hours with the nazomi.

[SN539]

Hello everybody,


Thank you for yours answers ! Travelling by train seems to be indeed a good solution in Japan, especially with a Japan Rail Pass (JPR).

The fact is that I'll arrive very early at Tokyo (Haneda !! New flight with BA from 19/02) and that I'm therefore interested with a convenient air connection to Osaka.

Travelling by train means going to the train station early in the morning and, to answer the post of Regi, my japanese is not really fluent ...

[earthman]

Regarding a trip to China I recently heard that it is almost a necessity to carry along a number of cards with some useful things written on them in Chinese, like the name of your hotel, etc ("my hovercraft is full of eels").

I can only imagine that this is also useful in Japan. A friend of mine was in Osaka a while ago and says nobody seems to speak English. What they did do is find a website where you can get in touch with a bunch of volunteers who do speak English and are willing to act as a guide for you. Anyway if you could get a card that says 'please bring me to the train station where I can catch a train to Osaka' and show it to
a taxi driver it might just do the trick.

Also in Japan a hovercraft full of eels might not be all that uncommon.

[earthman]

By the way, according to Wikitravel, from Haneda you need to take the Keikyu Line to Shinagawa, where you can grab the Shinkansen. The JR Pass of course does not work on the Keikyu Line, that would be just too convenient.

Neither the Keikyu Line nor the Tokyo Monorail run between midnight and 5am, but as the flight appears to arrive at 4:55am, that should not be a problem?

[regi]

We have lost an aviation member to the railways, 150 years back in time

[airtrainer]

Maybe a bit late, sorry...

Domestic flights in Japan are very expensive compared to what we're used to in Europe. Booking directly on JAL's website is usually cheaper than with any other broker, or you can try Skymark Airlines (http://www.skymark.co.jp/en/).

Regards.

[earthman]

So, it turned out april is an excellent time to go to Japan...