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Adilegian
Rogue Scholar
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Q*Bert Killscreen Nightmare
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 Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:35 pm Post subject: Getting cheaply to Japan |
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I know a lot of people on SB have experience living in (or traveling to) Japan, so I'd like to ask some advice.
I have a pretty awesome opportunity that I don't want to describe in detail, but it entails my getting to Japan on (roughly) the 23rd of this month and leaving probably on the 25th. A very short stay.
The problem is budget. I'm trying to find as cheap a way to fly to Tokyo as possible, roundtrip, out of Atlanta, and I haven't found any great rates on online ticket searches. I'm not overly concerned about living expenses once there--I just need as low a ticket price as I can get.
I don't know if I'm even asking for something that's possible, but I'm asking nonetheless. What's the most economical way, on short notice, to book a flight to Tokyo? (Not asking for anyone to search for tickets for me, BTW; more like asking for resources or travel outlets others might use that I don't know about.)
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Broco
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Headquarters
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 3:39 pm |
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| If you are flexible on your date of departure I hear there are certain tricks you can use. Like, wait around at or near the airport for several days, and when there is a last-minute cancellation, offer to fill in the seat. You can get great bargains that way. |
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Maztorre
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:47 pm |
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| I can't really help out since I've been flying from Dublin, but I'll be in Tokyo from the 16th until the 26th so we should meet up for good times, man. |
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DonMarco
graphics fucker
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:51 pm |
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| Broco wrote: |
| If you are flexible on your date of departure I hear there are certain tricks you can use. Like, wait around at or near the airport for several days, and when there is a last-minute cancellation, offer to fill in the seat. You can get great bargains that way. |
Traveling on holidays is also cheap. Thanksgiving and Christmas, for instance. Also, switching planes a few times could shave off the dollar, if you don't mind potentially doubling your travel times...
Are you planning on leaving the country from LAX, O'Hare, or Houston? Of the three, I think I liked O'Hare the most.
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Toptube
Anti-cabbage Party Candidate
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:13 pm |
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| DonMarco wrote: |
| Broco wrote: |
| If you are flexible on your date of departure I hear there are certain tricks you can use. Like, wait around at or near the airport for several days, and when there is a last-minute cancellation, offer to fill in the seat. You can get great bargains that way. |
Traveling on holidays is also cheap. Thanksgiving and Christmas, for instance. Also, switching planes a few times could shave off the dollar, if you don't mind potentially doubling your travel times...
Are you planning on leaving the country from LAX, O'Hare, or Houston? Of the three, I think I liked O'Hare the most. |
try a travel agent. sometimes they can pull tickets out of their ass that you'll never see in your own search.
try to fly out in the middle of the week, it'll be about $100 cheaper than say, friday or sunday.
holiday seasons are expensive times to fly (japana has like 3 holiday seasons, which is probably why flight prices fluctuate so damn much). but, at the same time, flying during a holiday season can sometimes net an overbooked flight, and you may be asked to fly a different day for and recieve a travel voucher for later use, so you actually only pay like $200 for your flight. (happened to me once! it was awesome!)
besides that overbooked flight, the cheapest I ever payed to Japan from washington state was $632. the most I ever payed (would have, but it was the voucher time) was $1100. |
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aderack
Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:30 pm |
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| Key term: air holes. |
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droog
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:42 pm |
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How cheap are you look? JTB has tickets from Atlanta starting at $790.00.
http://www.jtbusa.com/
I'm trying to think of the other agency I've gotten cheap tickets to Japan through before, but I can't remember the name of it off hand. I'll check when I get home later. |
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Kappuru
forum bishonen
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:15 pm |
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| Maztorre wrote: |
| I can't really help out since I've been flying from Dublin, but I'll be in Tokyo from the 16th until the 26th so we should meet up for good times, man. |
Hey, me and some friends will be in Tokyo.. if you want to go out sometime lemme know, i'll send you my Japanese #
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Maztorre
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:18 pm |
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| Kappuru wrote: |
| Maztorre wrote: |
| I can't really help out since I've been flying from Dublin, but I'll be in Tokyo from the 16th until the 26th so we should meet up for good times, man. |
Hey, me and some friends will be in Tokyo.. if you want to go out sometime lemme know, i'll send you my Japanese # |
Sure, just PM it here whenever and I'll shoot you something back whenever I get myself a prepaid phone over there. I'm staying at Rud13's so yeah, we should all do a thing or three. |
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Tokyo Rude
Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Location: I'm on the phone Derrick!
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 3:12 pm |
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| Kappuru wrote: |
| Maztorre wrote: |
| I can't really help out since I've been flying from Dublin, but I'll be in Tokyo from the 16th until the 26th so we should meet up for good times, man. |
Hey, me and some friends will be in Tokyo.. if you want to go out sometime lemme know, i'll send you my Japanese # |
Was actually going to ask if you if you could help Maz out on the first day, I'm all in class the first day he's here ;_;. |
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Adilegian
Rogue Scholar
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Q*Bert Killscreen Nightmare
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:05 pm |
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| Broco wrote: |
| If you are flexible on your date of departure I hear there are certain tricks you can use. Like, wait around at or near the airport for several days, and when there is a last-minute cancellation, offer to fill in the seat. You can get great bargains that way. |
I would if Atlanta were more convenient and if I didn't have to know roughly a week ahead of time that I'll be going. The occasion for my trip requires that I let them know that I'm coming a several days before the thing gets underway.
Thanks for letting me know about cancellations in general, though. I'll see what I can dig up on this.
| Maztorre wrote: |
| I can't really help out since I've been flying from Dublin, but I'll be in Tokyo from the 16th until the 26th so we should meet up for good times, man. |
SNAP. We absolutely should! I'll keep you apprised of my schedule, if/when it gets clear.
| DonMarco wrote: |
| Are you planning on leaving the country from LAX, O'Hare, or Houston? Of the three, I think I liked O'Hare the most. |
I had thought that Atlanta's airport made international flights. I figured there'd be an exchange on the West coast, since I'm guessing that passenger flights from Atlanta to Tokyo are unfeasable. (No sure knowledge on that though.) Still, I think I remember flying out of Atlanta to Finland as a student--well, first to Frankfurt and THEN to Finland. But still! Ocean underneath.
| Toptube wrote: |
| try a travel agent. sometimes they can pull tickets out of their ass that you'll never see in your own search. |
Oh right! They get paid for that. I'll look up who's local.
| TopTube wrote: |
| try to fly out in the middle of the week, it'll be about $100 cheaper than say, friday or sunday. |
Thanks for that also!
| Eric-Jon Rössel Waugh wrote: |
| Key term: air holes. |
I thought holes were air!
Thanks! I'll look into that too. I'm crossing my fingers to get anything lower than $1000, frankly.
| droog wrote: |
| I'm trying to think of the other agency I've gotten cheap tickets to Japan through before, but I can't remember the name of it off hand. I'll check when I get home later. |
Please do!
Thanks everyone! This has been really useful, and I'm grateful for all the help I can get!
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108
fairy godmilf
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: oakland, california
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| Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:43 pm |
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I once flew from Atlanta to Tokyo. Once.
The cheapest tickets are on Tuesday!
This has been the standard rule for years and years.
September 11th, 2001 was a Tuesday.
:/
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Adilegian
Rogue Scholar
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Q*Bert Killscreen Nightmare
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:22 pm |
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| 108 wrote: |
I once flew from Atlanta to Tokyo. Once.
The cheapest tickets are on Tuesday!
This has been the standard rule for years and years.
September 11th, 2001 was a Tuesday.
:/ |
Both of these are unfortunate. I've got to work all next week, and I'll only be able to leave on Friday. On top of that, the best roundtrip rates I've found require a four-day stay in Tokyo, which I hadn't expected. That's not really so much a problem though.
But I have a question for Tim! I have allergic reactions to wheat gluten, which I understand might make eating difficult while I'm there. How expensive are fruits, vegetables, and the like? Anything non-perishable and non-wheat.
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Toptube
Anti-cabbage Party Candidate
Joined: 23 Apr 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 8:31 pm |
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| Adilegian wrote: |
| 108 wrote: |
I once flew from Atlanta to Tokyo. Once.
The cheapest tickets are on Tuesday!
This has been the standard rule for years and years.
September 11th, 2001 was a Tuesday.
:/ |
Both of these are unfortunate. I've got to work all next week, and I'll only be able to leave on Friday. On top of that, the best roundtrip rates I've found require a four-day stay in Tokyo, which I hadn't expected. That's not really so much a problem though.
But I have a question for Tim! I have allergic reactions to wheat gluten, which I understand might make eating difficult while I'm there. How expensive are fruits, vegetables, and the like? Anything non-perishable and non-wheat. |
the cheapest way to eat well in japan is to eat italian food. italian food is way cheap there, but also way good. so just make sure you are eating egg noodles instead of wheat (when you get a pasta dish). plenty of robust salads and stuff too.
also ramen or standard curry dishes are great cheap choices.
fruit and produce can be pricey sometimes, but the prices fluctuate a lot so just keep an eye out.
you could also try going to a college cafeteria and pretend to be a student. I once snuck into a whole week's worth of orientation at a college in kaihimakuhari and when I ate any of the different cafeterias there, they never questioned me. pretty damn good food for a pretty damn good price. |
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droog
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:15 am |
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Hey, I found the other company I got cheap tickets through:
http://www.feti.com
Unfortunately, they don't appear to be covering airfare to Japan any more. :-( Plus, they might be New York only. :-( Sorry! |
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Jeff Garneau
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:18 am |
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| my math teacher once told me that the models for determining ticket prices had become so complicated that no single person completely understands them any more |
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Felix
unofficial repository
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: vancouver
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:31 am |
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it costs a grand to fly from middle america to tokyo?!
tell me that's round trip. |
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108
fairy godmilf
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: oakland, california
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| Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 3:40 pm |
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| Ethoscapade wrote: |
it costs a grand to fly from middle america to tokyo?!
tell me that's round trip. |
here's me breaking down preconceived notions:
bitch, round trips are ALWAYS CHEAPER than one-way tickets.
ALWAYS.
also -- as for wheat: i'm sure you'll be fine. if you hang with me (i'm a true player + diabetic + vegetarian in the MOST DIFFICULT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD for vegetarians), i'm sure i can keep you away from what's not good for you.
you're only staying for two days, yeah? do you have a place to stay? you can sleep on my sofa. i'm pretty much dead in the center of tokyo.
also, if you're free the night of the 24th, you absolutely need to come to a rock show. i'm sure maztorre and rudie will be there as well ^_~!!
and kappuru as well, as he and his MANY FRIENDS just agreed, in person, to come to the show.
it's gonna be a fucking hell of a show. absolutely mandatory shit!
send me a PM and i'll send you my contact details.
get your airplane ticket fast, before the tickets get you!
try using PRICELINE.COM -- i once got from san jose to tokyo for $269!! round trip, yeah! in the middle of january.
on a tuesday.
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Tokyo Rude
Joined: 28 Mar 2007
Location: I'm on the phone Derrick!
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 3:26 am |
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| SO IS HE COMING OR WHAT? |
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Maztorre
Joined: 04 Dec 2006
Location: Ireland
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 7:53 am |
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| HE AIN'T BUT DON'T CRY |
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Adilegian
Rogue Scholar
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Location: Q*Bert Killscreen Nightmare
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:00 am |
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HEY.
Sorry guys. Things fell through near the last minute, literally one day before I was set to buy my tickets.
I'm moving to Mississippi (Hi Rud13) in the middle of August for graduate school, and SURPRISE EXPENSES appeared that sucked up my cashes. =(
I was heading out to Tokyo for work/pleasure/workpleasure (what is it when you love your job?) anyway, so I'm sure the opportunity will arise again soon.
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Internetics
Joined: 19 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:12 pm |
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| Adilegian wrote: |
| I was heading out to Tokyo for work/pleasure/workpleasure (what is it when you love your job?) anyway, so I'm sure the opportunity will arise again soon. |
Now that you have "a while" to plan this next trip/attempt... You thinking maybe the September time for TGS or more the Spring, before it is too hot? I'll be "attempting" to get out of the US come next spring. But only if Iget a job lined up and save $3k in moneys.
This thread is awesome. |
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rabite gets whacked!
Joined: 05 Dec 2006
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| Posted: Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:34 pm |
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late to the thread and all, but what you might want to look into for next time is flying air courier; courier companies will give you vastly reduced (sometimes free) rates to essentially fill a seat for the transport of documents or parcels. you need to be a little flexible on departure dates, and it often means no checked baggage (cause parcel being delivered would be checked) but it's really the cheapest way to get anywhere.
though I don't know how much it's still available; the internet's surely taken lots of that whole document transportation thing out of the mix by now.
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| People who seek novelty will inevitably eventually succumb to ennui. |
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